I don't know whether this has been asked before, but I was just wondering if it's alright to connect to an unsecured wifi connection? A lot of free wifi hotspots are appearing nowadays, and most of them, if not all of them are unsecured. How safe is it to use them? My cousin told me about one yesterday he was using on his iPhone 4, so, I figured it would be better to use the wifi as opposed to my data usage.
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How safe is it to use unsecured wifi?
- Thread starter ZingXao
- Start date
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
Depends on whether you have an encrypted connection with the end web site. Even then you're a prime candidate for a man in the middle attack.
I didn't actually use anything within the browser, except maybe Google. Other than that I used the Facebook app, and the Twitter app.
I was a bit wary of using the free wifi anyway, so stuck to those.
http://www.letsgowifi.co.uk/services.php?sid=34
That's the wifi service the restaurant I was in uses. It says something about security on the link. I'm not au fait with wifi security, so I haven't a clue what they're saying.
I was a bit wary of using the free wifi anyway, so stuck to those.
http://www.letsgowifi.co.uk/services.php?sid=34
That's the wifi service the restaurant I was in uses. It says something about security on the link. I'm not au fait with wifi security, so I haven't a clue what they're saying.
It doesn't matter what app you're using. ALL your network traffic is potentially visible. I could sit down in a coffee shop with my laptop set up to look like "coffee shop free wifi" and steal passwords all day if I wanted.
Facebook for Android vulnerable to simple snooping tricks
You can use https://facebook.com (note the "s" in https) or https://www.google.com, and some other sites offer secure connections. You must be familiar with the way your browser identifies secure sites though, because there are ways of tricking a user into thinking they are on a secure site, even though their browser doesn't indicate that it is.
If you could set up an encrypted VPN tunnel, you could pretty safely do anything you wanted over free wifi.
You can set one up at home to connect to, or pay a monthly fee for a commercial one.
Facebook for Android vulnerable to simple snooping tricks
You can use https://facebook.com (note the "s" in https) or https://www.google.com, and some other sites offer secure connections. You must be familiar with the way your browser identifies secure sites though, because there are ways of tricking a user into thinking they are on a secure site, even though their browser doesn't indicate that it is.
If you could set up an encrypted VPN tunnel, you could pretty safely do anything you wanted over free wifi.
You can set one up at home to connect to, or pay a monthly fee for a commercial one.
AngryHatter
Android Expert
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
Very safe.
Just do not do any banking or things that will transmit sensitive data.
Not very safe. Look at the mess Google got into a few months ago. They were simply driving down the street in their Street View cars and inadvertently collected people's emails, passwords, account numbers, etc.... just from the various open wifi networks. Think of an open wifi network as you standing in the street screaming stuff. If no one else is listening to you, you can scream your SSN, bank account numbers and all kinds of other private information you'd rather people not know and you'd be fine. The one time you do that and someone is actually paying attention to you, you're screwed.
poopookakada
Android Enthusiast
Never unsecured networks on your phone!!!!
You can take measures on a laptop or pc to further minimize the chance of anyone getting the info, but not something you can do on your phone (other than https already mentioned) so not worth the risk if you ask me.
You can take measures on a laptop or pc to further minimize the chance of anyone getting the info, but not something you can do on your phone (other than https already mentioned) so not worth the risk if you ask me.
It doesn't matter what app you're using. ALL your network traffic is potentially visible. I could sit down in a coffee shop with my laptop set up to look like "coffee shop free wifi" and steal passwords all day if I wanted.
Facebook for Android vulnerable to simple snooping tricks
You can use https://facebook.com (note the "s" in https) or https://www.google.com, and some other sites offer secure connections. You must be familiar with the way your browser identifies secure sites though, because there are ways of tricking a user into thinking they are on a secure site, even though their browser doesn't indicate that it is.
If you could set up an encrypted VPN tunnel, you could pretty safely do anything you wanted over free wifi.
This is probably the best answer in the thread. If you can, configure a VPN and connect to it whenever you are using public Wi-Fi. This will give you end-to-end encryption and pretty much disable Man-in-the-middle attacks (they'd be able to see your packets, but not do anything with them).
Outside of that, I haven't captured or shaped any of the random packets that Android sends (for, say, checking your Gmail). It's possible that email credentials could be captured, as well as credentials for anything else you connect to. Setting up a VPN isn't too difficult and can save you a ton of hassle in the long run.
[edit: On top of the ability to randomly sit down in the local Starbucks and wait for people to connect to my hotspot, it is possible to force people to lose their connection to the valid Starbucks Wi-Fi and force them to connect to me. The podcast Hak5 covers a lot of this, if anyone would be interested. Sometimes knowing what can be done is a good start to securing yourself.]
Martimus
One bite at a time...
Very safe.
Just do not do any banking or things that will transmit sensitive data.
Not exactly safe...
but I wholeheartedly agree that one should avoid any sort of financial transactions on an insecure network!