RE: How safe / unsafe is Free Open WiFi?

["Murda Mcloud" <murdamcloud () bigpond com>]

It depends. If you don't have any info/data that you need secured then you
could say it doesn't matter if hackers could sniff your traffic(ie read the
contents of all communication between you and the wireless point.)

On the other hand, if you are doing banking or business or personal email
then it is HIGHLY risky because everything can be sniffed-unless you have a
VPN or similar between you and the endpoint(ie your office).

If the wireless traffic between you and the café's access point is not
encrypted using WPA or better then other people can potentially eavesdrop. 

See this story for what people can do to 'listen in...'
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9281

also, here's an article on sidejacking:
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/secu/article.php/3694671

Also, remember that most email systems send password etc in the clear so
people could sniff passwords whilst you are connected and trying to download
mail from a corporate server.

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com]
> > On Behalf Of BlogPatrol.com
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 3:53 AM
> > To: security-basics () securityfocus com
> > Subject: How safe / unsafe is Free Open WiFi?
> >
> > ?Hi,
> >
> > I have what is probably a rather basic question:  Just how safe are free,
> > or open, WiFi networks that you find in Internet cafes, Hotels, Airports,
> > etc?  My personal opinion is that there are very unsafe, but I do not
> > have the technical expertise to explain to my colleages why they are
> > unsafe.
> >
> > Can anyone provide a summary, or a link to an article that provides a
> > summary, of why a laptop or PDA user should avoid using free and open
> > WiFi networks?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Tony Nguyen
> >
> > Tony Nguyen, President
> > BlogPatrol.com, Inc.
> > support () blogpatrol com | http://www.blogpatrol.com |
> > http://thepatrolblog.blogspot.com