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Old 09-08-2017, 12:19 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by Bearii View Post
Great perspective here, however, all users, particularly those with enough financial assets to retire comfortably need to VERY concerned about wifi hacking. It is relatively simple to hack your wifi signal regardless of where you are but especially in public locations such as campground wifi, Starbucks, hotels, MickeyD's, etc. I STRONGLY recommend that all users of wifi use a VPN if they are doing anything related to financial transactions, even just checking account balances or paying a bill. Even using a hotspot's wifi has vulnerabilities that a VPN can cure.

If you're worried about gov't spying your perspectives are spot on! I doubt anyone is interested in our browsing of Airforums
Hi

.... biut where does the VPN *go*? It's not a magic solution. Much of what gets tossed around with the VPN label on it is something very different than a a corporate secure network.

Hacking a cell phone signal (as opposed to public WiFi) is not all that easy. You get a *lot* of data that is completely useless. Simply sorting it all is a massive pain. It's certainly not a likely scenario at the local campground. Again, the original question is about a cellular hotspot and not WiFi.

For most of us, there are only a handful of "places" that would impact us in a major way financially. Resist the urge to re-balance the retirement accounts on a daily basis. Have rational protections on your credit cards and bank accounts. Take a deep breath and enjoy life.

Much of what gets tossed around, apples equally to your local home network. As long as the cell signal is "likely as secure" as the typical home WiFi, it's not the weak link....

Did I mention "Uncle Bob's VPN Service" that for *only* a few Bitcoins a month will *guarantee* that Uncle Bob gets rich?

Bob
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Old 09-08-2017, 12:20 PM   #22
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As a technologist with a bit of a security paranoia, I don't actually think that most of these VPN services you would sign up for truly offer any advantages. There is so much misinformation and scare tactics out there that push people to pay for useless VPN services that only shift the trust to an entirely unregulated entity that can just "go out of business" and open under a new name when their brand gets tarnished.

VPN is not "Internet", as others mention it is only an overlay connection to give the impression you are on a private network. The primary purpose for a VPN is to connect from a "unsecured" location into a "secured" location, an example would be the employees of a large company that work remotely. The company spends a significant amount of money to secure their "trusted" network, and they then have to have some way of letting only their trusted employees to connect "in" to that network. That is what the VPN does, it creates a virtual connection that goes through the security perimeter of the corporate network. It does this through a tunneling method, meaning the actual data is wrapped in another data format (with encryption, most commonly) to solve for 2 things. One is that the data being sent cannot be intercepted by untrusted parties, but more importantly to only allow trusted/authorized people to connect into the secure environment.

Here is a decent explanation: https://gizmodo.com/5990192/vpns-wha...-not-using-one

Now, does the VPN create more security for "normal" use when you are simply trying to just access something that is already on the public Internet? It may, or it may not...you are now placing your trust in your VPN provider as they now take-over and control your access (and more importantly your name resolution). You are now trusting that this fly-by-night VPN provider has no malicious intent, that they are not modifying/redirecting your traffic for their own benefit. Yes, some of these VPN providers may be trustworthy (until they themselves are compromised and then some malicious entity has access to all of their user's traffic with reduced paranoia because they trusted the VPN too much).

If you are concerned for security the main thing you need to do is ALWAYS install software updates for your computer system (and your phone!), that includes the operating system (e.g. Windows or MacOS, Android or iOS) as these fix security problems. The biggest risk to you and your data is out of date software that allows someone to circumvent existing security controls. You also must maintain updates browsers (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer). Every good browser has internal security checks and validations, an example is that when you connect to your bank you are doing so over an encrypted connection (HTTPS, you may see a "lock" icon or other indication that it is secured). The way that this encryption works it that the web site you are connecting to sends you an encryption key, your browser then verifies that this key can be trusted by looking at locally stored data and also communicating to an entity that issues and maintains the keys. Well operated web sites would know if their key has been compromised and the key would be "revoked", your browser would then know that the key it got was stolen or not and if it can be trusted for not. So whenever you connect to a site and your browser gives you a popup window, you should actually read it before clicking "access anyway" as it may be warning you that the site you are visiting cannot be verified or has been verified to be malicious.

When you have a VPN in place (not the one from your employer, but some random one you pick off the Internet) you are trusting that the VPN provider themselves are not intercepting or breaking this flow of trust. This can be as simple as DNS redirection, when you access "google.com" on the web nothing in the circuity that interconnects things knows what "google.com" is, just like when someone wants to call "Billy" on their phone you need a translation/lookup. DNS (domain name service) does this, it takes that "google.com" name and translates it to a numerical address (much like how the phone book on your mobile translates "Billy" into a phone number)...that numerical address (IP address) is how the networks know how to connect to where you are going. Malicious entities can change the DNS results so that you don't actually connect to Google, in this example, you connect to some other site that is presenting itself as Google...and then when you put your data in you are sending it to this malicious server and not actually to Google, they in turn pass the data to Google (while keeping a copy for themselves) so that you get the impression it is legitimate.

The way this works in email form is that you get a email that includes addresses that look legitimate, but are not. Instead of being "google.com" it is "goog1e.com" or "googIe.com" and at quick glance you don't notice...you click it and type in your username and password, etc. This is known as phishing.

Ways to help reduce the risk further than a VPN does is to use multi-factor authentication, if your bank allows you options to verify your authenticity by a text message or other alternate mean (aka a token) then that is the best option. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all offer something similar where you have to provide "2 factors" to authenticate (aka 2FA). That way if someone does get a copy of your password and this "token" they can't do a ton, as the token itself has as limited lifespan. This is also why when you sign in from "new" systems you might get an email telling you this happened, as the site may now have established "trust" with that system so that it can login again without requiring the secondary authentication.

The next critical aspect is to never ever use the same password for more than 1 web site...as when someone hacks Yahoo (again) they get your email address and password, they then use that data to connect to every service they can to see if you used the same data other sites (e.g. your bank account). With the 2-factor-authentication they would fail to login to your bank even with the right password, however not all sites (most don't) allow 2FA. So then you want to use some password manager to actually generate truly random passwords, as anything that you are going to make up and remember are also often easy for someone to guess or are already in a password dictionary like this: https://crackstation.net/buy-crackst...dictionary.htm
Note that their "small" dictionary contains "about 64 million passwords", you can imagine that MyS3cur3p@ssw0rd is in that list
Great feedback here! One thing I would add to the caution is the concerns I mentioned previously about Wifi hacking. There are reputable providers of VPN solutions that have been in business for some time. I've used Witopia and would recommend them for a simple inexpensive solution (no I don't get paid by them or work for them). By the way, stay far far away from HideMyAss - they will sell you personal info and the solution is not secure.
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Old 09-08-2017, 12:21 PM   #23
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Purchasing the Mobley was a challenge. Many AT&T sales personnel are not familiar with the device or the plan.
Wow, is that an understatement. I just got of the phone with my local AT&T store and the guy I asked about it insisted that I have to get and AT&T account, choose and pay for "a data plan" before I can buy the hotspot.

I told him that I didn't want anything but the hotspot and read him what it said on the AT&T website but he still insisted that I have to start an AT&T account a pick a data plan first.

These people *still* think they are *THE* phone company. I don't need it bad enough to go through all that hassle. I'll stick with my StraightTalk hotspot.

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Old 09-08-2017, 12:27 PM   #24
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Hi

.... biut where does the VPN *go*? It's not a magic solution. Much of what gets tossed around with the VPN label on it is something very different than a a corporate secure network.

Hacking a cell phone signal (as opposed to public WiFi) is not all that easy. You get a *lot* of data that is completely useless. Simply sorting it all is a massive pain. It's certainly not a likely scenario at the local campground.

For most of us, there are only a handful of "places" that would impact us in a major way financially. Resist the urge to re-balance the retirement accounts on a daily basis. Have rational protections on your credit cards and bank accounts. Take a deep breath and enjoy life.

Bob
VPN is just an encryption technology, where the data is sent to be encrypted and then decrypted to be sent along it's merry way depends on the solution. Many of the better VPN providers today have servers set up all over the world that you access using their VPN software (all traffic from your computer gets routed through it). So your data is sent through the VPN software for encryption before it leaves you computer, goes across the wifi to the internet router of your provider and then on to the VPN provider servers where it is decrypted for transport to the final website (and vice versa - very simplified picture of course). This way your wifi connection remains securely encrypted. I've used VPN's all over the world quite successfully to route data to networks that allow me to browse Facebook in countries that don't allow you to browse FB. It's great technology that can definitely secure your entry point into the internet.

As far as hacking a cell signal - you are absolutely correct about the difficulties. Hacking the wifi signal from your hotspot or phone to your computer, that's actually pretty easy - hence the need for a VPN.
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Old 09-08-2017, 12:29 PM   #25
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Here is a good example of a web browser (Safari on MacOS) doing what it is supposed to do. The smaller pop up box is showing that the browser was given a a certificate, but that the browser can't actually guarantee it belongs to the web site being accessed. The second box shows that the certificate itself is valid, but that it is a "wildcard" certificate...which are somewhat common, but technically less secure. So the certificate is configured to work for *.dexteraxle.com but the web site is www.dexteraxle.com...the certificate could be used on ftp.dexteraxle.com or anyothersite.dexteraxle.com. Generally these are OK to accept if the domain name actually matches the site you are visiting.
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Old 09-08-2017, 05:07 PM   #26
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Very educational and helpful. Thanks from all of us amateurs!
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Old 09-08-2017, 07:46 PM   #27
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VPN would be best suited when using public WiFi. Host your VPN, most current routers have a VPN function. PM me for details on setting it up.
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Old 09-09-2017, 07:15 AM   #28
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NY24, you're totally right about campsite wifi: completely inadequate and insecure to boot. It's why I don't use it.

The folks at rvmobileinternet.com do a good job of explaining all the current options and what they do. The site is run by a couple of fulltiming techies who can translate into English.

BTW, TunnelBear has an outside firm do an annual security audit of their VPN services -- and then actually takes action on the recommendations that come out of that audit. Wow! (You can tell I come from a world where audits and technical reports are used as windowsill dust-collecters.)
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Old 09-09-2017, 08:10 AM   #29
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Rich - you could refer to my previous post for clarification. Your are correct about point to point VPN's but you can also use VPN's that will secure your wifi traffic (or any internet traffic on any network) to secure servers on the internet that will then redirect your traffic. The concern here is hacking over wifi for the most part. The most secure solution of course is to have a true VPN, as you mentioned that is point to point (your laptop to your bank) and some institutions do provide that. But for most users that won't be necessary if their concern is wifi hacking. Remember hacking of the hotspot wifi is possible - not likely, definitely possible.
I would never use a VPN service, for the reasons you pointed out. A VPN connection to a specific site, like a bank, is pretty secure. A VPN service may be secure between you and the service's server, but they won't necessarily have a secure connection from that server to the ultimate site.
Also, the VPN service now has access to your information; do you trust them? Are they not hackable?

That's why I think setting up a VPN to your home computer and then going from there to the bank would best, IF you were going to even consider using a VPN at all. I don't, I use my own laptop and WIFI hotspot for banking when I travel.

I think the original point was in trying to use a campground or other unsecured WIFI hotspot to access a bank and asking if a VPN (service) could be used for that of if a personal WIFI hotspot would be better. There was some confusion over the differences in VPN and Hotspots.
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Old 09-09-2017, 08:32 AM   #30
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Hi

First question would be: What are you trying to secure? For most of us, 99+% of the bytes we move to the net are worthless to anybody.

Second question: Who are you worried about? If a national government would be interested in your information, forget any of this in terms of being secure. If you are worried about the kid two doors down, it does not take much.

Third question: Why would you trust any of this? Big "services" are also big targets for hackers. Sometimes obscurity *is* a solution to the security question. There's also no really good reason to assume your home network is secure.

All that said, your biggest risk is likely some bozo physically stealing your device(s). I would worry more about a bum breaking in through the window than through the internet.

Good crypto on a link involves computer power. It requires big keys, secure keys and good key rotation. Any decent approach impacts bandwidth and possibly latency. It's not free, easy, or simple. You will already be limited on bandwidth, tossing half or more of that away *is* a cost.

Data over a mobile hotspot is no more or less "risky" than talking on a cell phone. It's actually the same "stuff" going over the air. How much do you worry about the contents of your voice conversations? Given the complexity of the intercept process, you are more at risk in a big urban area than out in the boondocks. ( = there's more profit in the scheme with lots of callers).

Lots of issues.

Bob
Whatever you keep on your smartphone is easily available to hackers, not just the stuff you send out. They can get your contact list, emails, downloaded files, see where you've been, anything you keep on the phone.

Unsecured WIFI is one of the most dangerous things you can use. A malicious hacker can have full access to your smartphone and everything on it and you won't even know it's happening. It doesn't make any difference if you're in a big city or a small one. Hackers are everywhere. Software is readily available on the Internet to let any kid with a computer have access to your data.

Data and cell conversations travel by different forms and data is much more valuable than a conversation. Your smartphone is constantly broadcasting your location to available WIFI hotspots, if you have WIFI on. When you enter a store this information is used to track you, see where you go in the store. There have been numerous articles about stores like Target. Your cell conversations can be intercepted too. Do you ever call your bank and give them your account number? Some companies use your license number or SSN. All of these can be used to allow someone to steal your identity.

The biggest risk anyone with a smartphone or tablet can experience is a lack of vigilance by thinking their conversation or data isn't important.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/17/your...knowledge.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtan.../#bb88286dbc0d
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Old 09-09-2017, 08:47 AM   #31
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Note: some people will tell you that your hotspot is secure from your phone. Theoretically it is secure once the hotspot has your data and sends it along on the provider's network. However, the wifi the hotspot uses for you to communicate with the hotspot can still be hacked. So even if you sitting in your coach with your hotspot, some other nefarious camper could hack the wifi signal between the hotpot and your computer. Granted not as likely as a coffee shop but the demographics of campgrounds are changing rapidly, including a lot of technically savy folks looking for ways to avoid working....
On a public, unsecured WIFI hotspot the hacker already has access to the network, anyone does. On a personal WIFI hotspot they would have to hack that to get access and once they do, on my Jet Pack anyway, I see them in my list of connections and I can block them. Even so, it's not likely that a hacker would be in a campground trying to hack your personal hotspot. More likely, they'll be on the unsecured campground WIFI, much easier, doesn't require a network sniffer or other equipment. Some hackers even offer free unsecured WIFI connections so they can steal your information while you have access to the Internet. You don't ever know what hit you.

Nothing over the air is 100% secure. Even your hard wired connection at home can be hacked. Wireless security cameras can be hacked, giving access to anyone sitting on your street. In our world, nothing is as safe as standing in front of the teller in your bank. Even then, other systems (e.g. Equifax) can be hacked and they can still get your information. It's the world we live in. You do the best you can, but you can begin by not using unsecured WIFI and use your own, paid Internet connection.
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Old 09-09-2017, 09:49 AM   #32
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Originally Posted by richw46 View Post
Whatever you keep on your smartphone is easily available to hackers, not just the stuff you send out. They can get your contact list, emails, downloaded files, see where you've been, anything you keep on the phone.

Unsecured WIFI is one of the most dangerous things you can use. A malicious hacker can have full access to your smartphone and everything on it and you won't even know it's happening. It doesn't make any difference if you're in a big city or a small one. Hackers are everywhere. Software is readily available on the Internet to let any kid with a computer have access to your data.

Data and cell conversations travel by different forms and data is much more valuable than a conversation. Your smartphone is constantly broadcasting your location to available WIFI hotspots, if you have WIFI on. When you enter a store this information is used to track you, see where you go in the store. There have been numerous articles about stores like Target. Your cell conversations can be intercepted too. Do you ever call your bank and give them your account number? Some companies use your license number or SSN. All of these can be used to allow someone to steal your identity.

The biggest risk anyone with a smartphone or tablet can experience is a lack of vigilance by thinking their conversation or data isn't important.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/17/your...knowledge.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtan.../#bb88286dbc0d
Hi

So the *only* solution is to simply *never* use any form of technology. That's it. There *is* no other solution to being secure. .... except ... A thief can still break into your home and steal your information. Ok, so *never* write anything important down *anywhere*. Then it can't be stolen. ... except ... it's always written down at the bank. So never put anything in a bank, ever. Burry it all in the back yard ... except ... the thief may have a shovel ... hmmm .... There's always a scare story to go with any approach.

Your home hard wired internet connection is by no means "safe" in any absolute sense. If you believe it is, you simply have not looked into various aspects of internet plumbing. Routers, DNS servers, other bits and pieces all are vulnerable and do get hacked on a regular basis. The same is true of the servers at a bank or a credit reporting agency.

Welcome to the real world.

Bob
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Old 09-09-2017, 02:29 PM   #33
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Hi

So the *only* solution is to simply *never* use any form of technology. That's it. There *is* no other solution to being secure. .... except ... A thief can still break into your home and steal your information. Ok, so *never* write anything important down *anywhere*. Then it can't be stolen. ... except ... it's always written down at the bank. So never put anything in a bank, ever. Burry it all in the back yard ... except ... the thief may have a shovel ... hmmm .... There's always a scare story to go with any approach.

Your home hard wired internet connection is by no means "safe" in any absolute sense. If you believe it is, you simply have not looked into various aspects of internet plumbing. Routers, DNS servers, other bits and pieces all are vulnerable and do get hacked on a regular basis. The same is true of the servers at a bank or a credit reporting agency.

Welcome to the real world.

Bob
This is very accurate, if you want absolute security then you need to actually turn the power to the device off and leave it off.

There is a lot of hyperbole throughout this thread, yes threats exist...but most of them are mitigated through software updates (meaning you have to throw away that 2 year old Android phone and buy a new one so you can get updates). Apps can be a greater risk to your device than the network you use, sadly not all app stores actually care about security or integrity of the apps...perhaps you get what you pay for, it is really had to argue that though. The reality is that some app stores are more proactive about preventing or revoking malicious apps from existing.

It is really up to everyone to determine how paranoid they are, and where the cost/benefit is. Is a pay-for-VPN more secure? Maybe, or maybe it just changes the threat. Any "free" VPN is almost guaranteed to be less secure than not using it.

In regard to your home network, it is your "smart" TV, your "smart" lightbulbs, perhaps a "smart" refrigerator, and very likely your router itself that are your biggest threats. Most of these devices fail to maintain updates, simple fact is that bugs exist in all software. How quickly these bugs get fixed with updates after they are discovered and before there is actually someone leveraging the exploit is the differentiator between "good" and "garbage" smart/technology products. The best first step to security is to actually only use devices that even remotely talk to the Internet that get software updates...however there are plenty of residential grade routers out there that contain massive security exploits that were fixed several years ago, but the devices are either never updated by the users or the vendor doesn't even offer updates.

There is zero accountability for these "smart" devices, everyone just rushes into the cool new thing for the "neat" factor or convenience and then forget about it. I'm not going to get into listing all of the vendors that I personally would never trust, but there are several.
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Old 09-10-2017, 09:03 AM   #34
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In regard to your home network, it is your "smart" TV, your "smart" lightbulbs, perhaps a "smart" refrigerator, and very likely your router itself that are your biggest threats......
Hi

Would that be the "smart refrigerator" sitting in my kitchen that can't be updated because the manufacturer claims it has no WiFi capabilities? Really odd that it has a WiFi button on it and when I push the button a net with an SSID of "Samsung Fridge-xxxx" comes up ....must be a hallucination ...

Some of this stuff is simply a disaster waiting to happen. Focus on that part of it, not on the highly unlikely stuff. There are better things to pay attention to than the crazy one in a billion risks. (When *was* the last time you changed the password on your home WiFi?) You don't have to outrun the hungry lion, you only have to outrun the guy next to you ....

Bob
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Old 09-10-2017, 09:21 AM   #35
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Hi

So the *only* solution is to simply *never* use any form of technology. That's it. There *is* no other solution to being secure. .... except ... A thief can still break into your home and steal your information. Ok, so *never* write anything important down *anywhere*. Then it can't be stolen. ... except ... it's always written down at the bank. So never put anything in a bank, ever. Burry it all in the back yard ... except ... the thief may have a shovel ... hmmm .... There's always a scare story to go with any approach.

Your home hard wired internet connection is by no means "safe" in any absolute sense. If you believe it is, you simply have not looked into various aspects of internet plumbing. Routers, DNS servers, other bits and pieces all are vulnerable and do get hacked on a regular basis. The same is true of the servers at a bank or a credit reporting agency.

Welcome to the real world.

Bob
I think you're reading something into my post that isn't there. Life is a risk, yes, but you don't walk to the bank with $50 bills hanging out of your pocket or count the money in your wallet in public. There is always the element of risk, that's why I advocate caution.

Public WIFI is walking to the bank with $50 dangling from your pocket. Using your own personal WIFI hotspot is keeping the money in a safe place as you drive to the bank. Is there still a risk of getting robbed? Yes, but you've reduced your risk by a large margin.

Your home hardwired connection is very safe, unless you see someone standing in your yard with a network sniffer. Your computer poses a greater risk than your connection. Home routers have firewalls built into them and are delivered with many ports already closed. Change the admin password when you install it and you're pretty safe. Keep your antivirus software and O/S patches up to date, you're even safer. Antivirus software can now warn you if you're visiting an unsafe site (at least Trend Micro does).

There is a risk of getting hacked, yes, but quite often it's been accomplished because of someone doing something careless. One of the earliest methods of gaining access to business systems was to simply call their help desk and say you had forgotten your password. The help desk would reset, no challenge to confirm ownership, and the hacker was in the system. (user accounts were typically first initial + last name. So a hacker would call and ask for the 'rjones, asmith, bthompson' account to be reset.)

A company I worked for had a shared server on the network, totally unsecured, anyone could access any file. You didn't even need to be logged into the network, just plugged into it. Some new design specifications were placed there and someone found them, shared with another company. (Security was greatly enhanced after that. )

Almost weekly, same company, people who should have known better left their laptops on the back seat of their car. The window got smashed and the thief had access to company data. Something simple like putting the laptop in the trunk (before arriving at the destination) would have prevented the breach. (now all data on all laptops at that company is encrypted. A thief gets the laptop, but no data.)

So that's all I'm saying, just take precautions with your data to keep it safe. Don't use public WIFI, don't leave your laptop, smartphone, tablet etc. sitting on the back seat of your car, don't leave your WIFI on when you leave the house unless it is connected to your own hotspot.

" If you believe it is, you simply have not looked into various aspects of internet plumbing. Routers, DNS servers, other bits and pieces all are vulnerable and do get hacked on a regular basis"

I worked 35+ years in the IS/IT field, many different platforms in many different areas for many different companies. I am in the real world, so far, but I'm not careless about my data. I have never been hacked, never had my identity stolen or anything compromised. I am cautious, I've seen too many careless people get taken advantage of. Most thieves are lazy and will look for the easiest ways to get your information.

Be paranoid about your data, don't take chances. Oh, and buy a crosscut shredder, shred anything that has your name on it, especially credit card offers.
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Old 09-10-2017, 09:23 AM   #36
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Hi

Would that be the "smart refrigerator" sitting in my kitchen that can't be updated because the manufacturer claims it has no WiFi capabilities? Really odd that it has a WiFi button on it and when I push the button a net with an SSID of "Samsung Fridge-xxxx" comes up ....must be a hallucination ...

Some of this stuff is simply a disaster waiting to happen. Focus on that part of it, not on the highly unlikely stuff. There are better things to pay attention to than the crazy one in a billion risks. (When *was* the last time you changed the password on your home WiFi?) You don't have to outrun the hungry lion, you only have to outrun the guy next to you ....

Bob
Well said, Bob..I was just thinking same thing as I read the "what if" scenario's... By the way, how did you know there was a guy next to me?
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Old 09-17-2017, 08:54 PM   #37
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We never use on open wi-fi at McDonald's, etc since we have tethering on our phones. My understanding is this is a secure connection and not open to everyone. I will us an open wi-fi is I need to download a large file such as updating my gps.
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Old 09-18-2017, 08:04 AM   #38
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We never use on open wi-fi at McDonald's, etc since we have tethering on our phones. My understanding is this is a secure connection and not open to everyone. I will us an open wi-fi is I need to download a large file such as updating my gps.
Hi

The point of some of the earlier posts is that cell signals *can* be hacked. It's a lot less common than WiFi hacking.

Most of the stuff you "care about" can be secured directly. Bank, shopping, and email connections all can be run with built in security. Setting up your browser and email client to do this / check this is well worth the effort. It costs nothing, so why not do it?

Bob
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Old 09-22-2017, 09:51 AM   #39
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I will us an open wi-fi is I need to download a large file such as updating my gps.
While that large file is downloading, just lay your phone down on a public table (or put it outside your AS somewhere), unlocked, and you go do something else.

That's what you're doing anyway, while on a public, unsecured WIFI. If you didn't need an account/password (or the same account/password for everyone) to log into the WIFI, it's totally open. It may not even be a real public WIFI. Some of those public spots are really just someone offering it so they can trick you into connecting. Yes, you see the Internet, but they also see you. This isn't "hacking" a signal, this is being on a network with everyone else. You are totally exposed during that time.

Will someone be looking at your phone's contents? [Insert icon of rolling dice here]
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Old 09-23-2017, 07:16 AM   #40
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'This isn't "hacking" a signal, this is being on a network with everyone else. You are totally exposed during that time.'

Yup.
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