I would like to encrypt the data I send out wirelessly, like when i connect to the internet. I think this is supposed to be really easy if my network has encryption enabled, but how do i surf securely at public hot spots or if i'm connecting through a friend's network that doesn't have encryption available?

I am a wireless newb. Maybe i haven't googled this one enough yet.

Thanks for any advice/info!

-fisher

Wireless encryption is between two points: your computer and the access point. If your friend doesn't have encryption enabled at the router/access point, then your communication is insecure (unless, you go through an SSL layer, such as https). On the other hand, much of wireless security is questionable, i.e. weak, to begin with. See this.

if i understand correctly, there is nothing i can do for secure encryption over wireless then. ssl can only be implemented by a site or service i am trying to access, not by me to access an ordinary http page.
kinda scary

kind of scary, but then again, not really.

wireless encryption is always a good idea as it will keep non-hackers, and in some cases more knowledgable people out of your lan.

the key point here is encrypted network or not all of your internet browsing is still unencrypted once it gets onto the net (except for obvious cases like https or ssh which have their own encryption unrelated to wireless networking).

so in other words, going to linuxquestions.org is just as insecure on an encrypted network as an unencrypted one (mostly), and going to your online banking account is just as secure on either network.

what can you do to protect yourself from public ap's? change your firewall rules a bit to only allow things like samba on your home network (which should be using a less common subnet). better yet, when you're on a public ap shut off samba and similar lan services completely. that way even if someone does have malicious intent and is on the public ap with you you're hardly any more vulnerable to them than at any other time.

the one obvious point here that is an issue is man in the middle attacks. i'm not too sure on this with wireless networking but it's all too easy to monitor network packets on your lan in certain wired networks.

sorry if this wasn't really what you were asking about but i wasn't sure from your original post about "connecting to the internet"

If you have the luxury of keeping a server running "back home," you can SSH into it and tunnel out from there or run something like OpenVPN.
http://openvpn.net/
http://www.brandonhutchinson.com/ssh_tunnelling.html

i found this http://www.wifi.com.ar/english/doc/network/putty/
sounds like it would work for general internet surfing
anyone tried this using PuTTY to do this?

my understanding of the method:
use PuTTY on computer back home with running remote access software
log into computer remotely

i don't really understand how this gets the encryption between a laptop and access point
i guess it sends encrypted instructions to host computer over the internet, but i don't see the difference between this and just calling up a remote session on VNC

fyi, i haven't looked really hard at any of this enough to start understanding, nor have i tried it to get a feel for what is going on

anyone with experience or comments?

How safe is entering passwords, etc. over an ssl connection on the internet (https) when you are using an open wireless situation like a free wifi in a coffee shop?

The way I understand how it works, it would seem to be as "safe" as on any "secure" system because an encryption key occurs between the server (ie your bank) and the client (ie my web browser) even though it is passing through the unsecure server of the free wifi (and around the vicinity). Is this correct? If so, why does a person need a VPN if you don't care if someone "sniffs" your other (http) web browsing? And your email is retrieved or read using https also.

I prefer to use SSH SOCKS proxy, as described below:
http://www.techrecipes.net/applicati...te-socks-proxy