# Using an unsecured network safely



## Waxx (Oct 19, 2009)

I was wondering what sort precautionary measures I can take in order to keep myself safe when using an unsecured network, such as those in a coffee shop, library, etc.


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## s m a s h (Oct 15, 2009)

Waxx said:


> I was wondering what sort precautionary measures I can take in order to keep myself safe when using an unsecured network, such as those in a coffee shop, library, etc.


easy answer for you, none are safe stay away :grin:


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## unodip (Oct 20, 2009)

s m a s h said:


> easy answer for you, none are safe stay away :grin:


not true.

if you want to keep your computer safe from intrusion, just use normal methods such as firewall that stops all incoming connections and monitors outgoing connections.

to keep your data safe from people monitoring/sniffing the network, you have a couple options

1) setup an ssh server at your house or other location that you can access over the internet. Then on the machine with ssh or another machine on its network, setup a proxy server such as squid, and tunnel the proxy server over ssh and set your web browser to use this proxy. after that all your web traffic will be encrypted over ssh until it reaches your home network. setting this up will take < 10 minutes under a decent linux distro

2) you can also get all your traffic encrypted if you setup a vpn and connect to it before accessing anything on the internet. you will ened to setup proxies within the vpn's network though as before.


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## s m a s h (Oct 15, 2009)

unodip said:


> not true.
> 
> if you want to keep your computer safe from intrusion, just use normal methods such as firewall that stops all incoming connections and monitors outgoing connections.
> 
> ...



anything you do on someone elses unsecured wifi can be seen no matter what you do :wink:


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## unodip (Oct 20, 2009)

s m a s h said:


> anything you do on someone elses unsecured wifi can be seen no matter what you do :wink:


no it cant with vpn, ssl web traffic, or tunneling over ssh, or anything else encrypted end to end. the best they could do is man in the middle you but all the mentioned protocols have signatures, keys, fingerprints, etc that can defeat those attacks.

I don't think you understand the implications of saying anyone controlling a node between you and the server you are talking to can do anything "no matter what you do". nothing could be trusted EVER over the internet if that was the case


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