More and more laptop computer
and PDA owners are discovering the convenience of settling in at a local cafe,
restaurant, or even some bars, and being able to quickly jump online via a
high-speed wireless internet connection. These "hotspots" are
provided by the establishment sometimes for a fee, sometimes at no cost, or
other times coupled with a purchase. Airports and hotels are also offering this
service to its customers. Not only popular with business people and travelers,
just about anyone who has a laptop and knows about WiFi can enjoy the freedom
of being able to relax with their laptop and a cup of coffee, and be instantly
downloading email, songs, or videos, or using Skype, shopping on eBay, listening
to streaming audio/video, or using almost any other application that makes the
most of a broadband internet connection.
How Secure is your Data at Public WiFi?
What many people don't realize,
however, is how insecure their data is to available snoopers: it's quite easy,
and not uncommon, for hackers using freely available software and PLDT Hacker
Apk, to plant themselves in the corner of such a public location and
"sniff" out the data that's zooming through the air between your
laptop computer and the wireless access point (router) that is broadcasting the
wireless signal. Much of the time, just about everything that comes and goes
from your computer wirelessly in such situations is available to be read and
interpreted by such a hacker with the right software and hardware tools. If any
hacker has hacked your PLDT WiFi then you need to change your PLDT WiFi Password.
This might not bother you if
you're just reading the news or downloading your favorite podcast, but know
that many times your email and website passwords (even if it's pre-programmed
into Outlook) are also passing before the eyes of the disheveled 15-year-old
sitting in the corner of the cafe with excess computer equipment around him,
eyeing his prey with peripheral glances. With such passwords and personal
information at his disposal, identity theft, financial theft, and other
frustrating messes can befall the victim within hours. There's the old joke of
a customer in a wireless cyber cafe with his laptop, chuckling at things he's
reading or communicating via a chat room online; across the room is a hacker
laughing in tune with this fellow because he's sniffing out the customer's
signal and seeing exactly what's on his screen. Yes, this sort of thing does
indeed happen.
The reason for this exposure is
endemic to the concept of open wireless internet access. Unlike a home wireless
network which can be easily secured (though many home users don't take the time
to do so), public hotspots by their very nature don't, and can't, include any
easy security measures to protect against the sniffing of data. To be available
to customers and easy to use and administer, the wireless service can't be
secured automatically. And so you as a customer must take it upon yourself to
watch your back and implement your own security procedures. BYOS: Bring Your Own Security.
How to Secure your Data while using Internet at Public WiFi?
What needs to be done, if you
want to protect your wireless data, is the data that travels back and forth
from your computer to the internet needs to be encrypted - scrambled such that
anyone who intercepts and reads the data can't make any sense of it. There are
a few ways to do this.
First and foremost, know that
data passed through an encrypted web session ("SSL") is always safe
to consider private. We've all been taught to look for the icon of a lock or
key in the corner of our web browser, or the "https://" prefix in the
address bar, when making an online purchase or otherwise providing sensitive
personal information online. This holds true during wireless sessions at WiFi
hotspots and is usually a good enough guard against any snoopers trying to cull
private data through the air. Simply continue to make sure that your web
browser shows that lock or key when you're on a site that is eliciting private
information from you, and you are safe from sniffers at a wireless hotspot.
If you use Outlook Express,
Outlook, or other email client software that pulls your email down to your
computer, know that normally your password is being sent out over the internet
connection in clear text. Not good. Check with your email provider to see if
they offer "POP/SMTP over SSL" - this is an encrypted version of
email transfer and will protect you just like SSL protects you during a web
session. There are some email providers that offer this valuable feature,
including Google's Gmail.
An undervalued technology that
is still slow to gain popularity among the laptop-toting masses is VPN. When
you have your computer establish a VPN connection over your broadband internet
connection (whether wireless - the point of this article, or wired ethernet),
everything traveling over the connection is encrypted between your computer and
the remote VPN server. If you connect to a VPN server while at your favorite
wireless hotspot, you'll know that your encrypted data is safe from sniffers.
Short of having your employer
provide you with VPN connectivity (it may not hurt to ask), services such as
HotSpotVPN.com (recommended) and PublicVPN.com offer, for a modest monthly fee,
VPN connectivity from wherever on the internet you might be. Most of the time
such VPN connections can be initially configured within minutes and without the
need to download or install any specialized software. VPN client software comes
built-in to most versions of Windows, as well as Mac OS X. Establishing a
subsequent VPN session on your computer only takes a few seconds.
There are a few flavors of VPN
out there in the world, and if your VPN provider offers you a choice of these
different technical variations, here are my suggestions, in decreasing level of
recommendation for each specification. (If this is too techie for you to
swallow, don't sweat it - you can still use VPN services just fine without
choosing.)
- Tunneling Protocol: IPsec-over-L2TP, SSL, L2TP, PPTP
- Authentication Protocol: MS-CHAPv2, MS-CHAP, CHAP
- Key Strength: 256bit AES, 192bit AES, 128bit Blowfish, 128bit MPPE
If you're a tech pro, you might
also consider setting up a VPN server on your home PC and using that to host
your remote VPN session from your laptop. This would save you a few bucks a
month over paid services, but it would take some time and know-how to setup.
As usual, no matter where you
take your laptop, you'll want to make sure you have your security software kept
up-to-date:
- Firewall: Windows XP and Vista include a great firewall component. Use it. For other operating systems, you can often find free trustworthy firewall software online, available for download.
- Anti-Virus: If you don't have an AV package, get one. And keep it up-to-date, too. A great free AV program for Windows is Grisoft's Free AVG. And yes, it knows how to automatically update itself, too.
- OS Updates: Keep your operating system updated as well. If it's Windows 2000, XP, or Vista you have, make sure you set the Automatic Updates to check for, download, and install updates from Microsoft's website automatically.
- Anti-Spyware: Though less of a direct threat than viruses and trojans, spyware/adware/malware can create problems on your computer, such as slowness and instability. There are even nasty variants that steal your passwords (they're called key loggers) - regardless of whatever kind of encryption you use online. Microsoft users can download the free and reputable Windows Defender directly from the Microsoft website and keep their spyware load to a minimum.
Before I wrap-up, let me say a
word about "evil-twins". These are false hotspots setup by hackers to
appear as freely available wireless access points. They may have an SSID
(network name) of something enticing like "Get_Your_Free_WiFi_Here",
or more subtle, such as "T-Mobile_WiFi". Once connected to them, all
seems to behave normally, but secretly the hacker is recording ALL the data
you're sending and receiving through that connection, and they may also be
trying to sneak their way into your computer through other means.
To avoid connecting to an evil
twin, be sure to check with the establishment of the WiFi hotspot that you are
patronizing - they'll tell you the exact name of their wireless network that
you should connect to. Be sure to specify that network name in your wireless
software or profile and none other.
One last comment here if you're
frequently on-the-road and require regular wireless internet access. Instead of
frequenting various hotspots, you may consider purchasing wireless broadband
from a cellular provider such as Verizon or AT&T.; Each of them has an
"unlimited" plan for a fixed monthly price. While slightly slower
than typical WiFi speeds, such cellular data plans usually still qualify as
broadband and are fast enough for most people. The big advantage of such plans
is that you can connect to the internet in just about any place a cell phone
can get a signal - and that means far more coverage than most any WiFi network
currently in place.
Talking about and setting up
security measures for your wireless connection may not be the most interesting
of topics. But in today's world where electronic money flows in and out of
online (and offline) accounts with relative ease, and where identity theft is
America's fastest growing crime, prevention is the best medicine for keeping
one's private information out of the wrong hands. And when you're sharing such
data through the air at a public hotspot, you really want to make sure it's
incomprehensible to everyone except you and your trusted merchant.
