Five Tips for Secure Wireless Web Surfing
If you travel on behalf of your organization, you likely bring along a laptop so you can stay productive while you’re away. And because many airports, hotels, and coffee shops are now equipped with so-called hotspots access points that let you surf the Web using a wireless Internet connection you probably take advantage of these opportunities to check your email, log in to your nonprofit’s intranet, and generally find out what’s going on back at the office.
But while using a public hotspot to surf the Internet can help you get work done from the road, it can also potentially compromise your organization’s privacy. Because public hotspots lack any sort of security measures, it’s possible that other people using the same wireless connection can intercept the information you send and receive across the Internet; savvier hackers and data thieves might even be able to gain entry to your computer and access important files.
1. Install and use firewall and antivirus software.
When you’re surfing the Web from your nonprofit’s offices, your computer is more than likely protected from threats by a centralized firewall — a piece of hardware or software that blocks potentially harmful traffic traveling between the network and the Internet. Most public hotspots, however, fail to include this protective barrier; even if a hotspot does happen to have a firewall set up, it won’t protect you from hackers who are also using the access point. Therefore, make sure you have a personal firewall up and running before you log in at the airport or the hotel lobby.
2. Use a VPN whenever possible.
A virtual private network (VPN) allows users working from a remote machine to access resources on a private computer network, such as an organization’s intranet. A VPN is essentially a secure tunnel through the Internet, from the user’s machine to the private network, in which all information is encrypted so that would-be snoopers can’t get at it.
3. Take care when entering sensitive data on a Web site.
When using a hotspot, the only foolproof way to ensure that your organization’s sensitive data stays private is to avoid sending it into cyberspace altogether. If you need to transfer funds using online banking or make a virtual purchase with your nonprofit’s credit card, it’s always best to wait until you’re back on a network that you know is secure.
4. Encrypt emails and documents.
As previously mentioned, most Web-based email services only encrypt your password and do not protect your actual inbox. Therefore, it’s unwise to use these services to send or receive confidential emails when working from a public hotspot. (Indeed, it’s unwise to use these services to send highly confidential messages from anywhere, unless you’re confident in the privacy and email retention policies of the companies offering the services.) However, newer versions of Microsoft Outlook provide a built-in email encryption feature, which is accessible by clicking the Tools menu item, selecting Options, and browsing to the Security tab.
5. Look out for fraudulent hotspots.
Another potential danger when using public wireless networks are so-called “evil twins,” hotspots set up by hackers to collect personal information. A data thief may do this by setting up an open hotspot near a valid one or by simply configuring his or her laptop to transmit a wireless signal. When nearby users check the list of available connections, they’ll also see the evil twin. If a users happen to log in to this fraudulent access point, the hacker can track their Internet travels and emails and might be able to access private data they send across the Web, including credit card numbers.
Tags: access, airports, compromise, email, equipped, gain_entry, hotels, hotspots, intercept, Internet, laptop, nonprofit, security_measures, send_and_receive, take_advantage, Web, Wi-Fi, wireless_connection, wireless_internet_connection
Wireless Articles on 26 Jun 2007 at 1:23 pm #
because many airports, hotels, and coffee shops are now equipped with so-called hotspots access points that let you surf the Web using a wireless Internet connection you probably take advantage of these opportunities to check your … Original post byJason