renojack
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I understand that public Wi-Fi should not be used for banking. Is there any circumstance when a Wi-Fi can be used for transactions (on the road) short of your home encrypted broadband??
Thanks for any explanation.
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LittleBill
Scranton, PA USA
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any wifi can be used for banking as long as all interaction with the website is httpS://
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Alfred622
Rochester, MN
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Agree with LittleBill. Critical to look in your browser URL spot (usually top left). When you see it begin with "http://" you are NOT using a secure connection. What you say can be observed by others. For example, www.rv.net is not secure while reading posts.
However, when you are on a website where the URL begins with "https://" then you're on a secure link. The "s" after the "http" indicates secure socket being used. That means every information transfer is encrypted and validated by a secure certificate. Nothing else much matters.
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Dennis M M
Geneva, IL; Tucson, AZ
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In spite of using a secure website it is my understanding that an public WiFi connection is far from secure.
For $20 a month we can activate our Verizon cell phone as a hot spot and use that for any secure transactions. Belt and suspenders maybe.
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skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
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When discussions revolve around unsecured internet they usually mean that the network doesn't have password protection so anyone can use it. Encryption should be safe to use on any site that is a secure site as mentioned above. As ALWAYS it's best to have all of the proper security features active on your computer.
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1492
No. Virginia
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Dennis M M wrote:In spite of using a secure website it is my understanding that an public WiFi connection is far from secure.
A secure website using an SSL connection is encrypted, so how is it not secure using an open public WiFi? 
Any data intercepted would just be garbled.
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2oldman
Moses Lake
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renojack wrote:I understand that public Wi-Fi should not be used for banking. I don't know where this comes from.
Is free wifi secure?
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garym114
Bluff Dale, Texas
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Dennis M M wrote:In spite of using a secure website it is my understanding that an public WiFi connection is far from secure.
When using https, communication to and from the website is secure when using public WiFi or home WiFi.
You could be referring to the network security on public WiFi which is not the same thing. When using public WiFi, File and Printer Sharing on your connected device should be turned off and your firewall should be turned on. This secures your files from others on the network. This is not the same as what passes over the wireless connection web communication.
Again, https communication is secure, more secure than your home encrypted broadband.
* This post was
edited 02/05/12 11:28pm by garym114 *
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SCClockDr
SC UpState
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If you are using your own device and the url starts with https://...
Then I would say = secure as at home on WiFi, I would operate in this environment.
OTOH
If you were using a library/cafe supplied computer, nothing you do there can be considered secure on any level. Who knows what denizen processes are lurking to capture your log-in info etc.
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ljr
Pennsylvania
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Dennis M M wrote:In spite of using a secure website it is my understanding that an public WiFi connection is far from secure.
For $20 a month we can activate our Verizon cell phone as a hot spot and use that for any secure transactions. Belt and suspenders maybe.
More like apples and oranges. When you talk about secure wifi you are talking about the portion of the internet between your antenna and the wireless access point's antenna. Yes, bad things can happen there. Mostly people can connect as somebody else.
When you connect to, for example, your bank there are many more segments from a handful to dozens. Wifi or Verizon is only the first one. A secure (https, TLS/SSL) connection spans all of them and keeps your data from being intercepted. No its not perfect. No network security is. But its very close. I would be more concerned about somebody getting my PIN at the ATM machine that hacking an https connection.
None of that matters if you don't select a good password and keep it to yourself. That's the single most effective action you can take to protect yourself. In my years of user support I can't tell you the number of times I encountered somebody obsessed with network security that had passwords on a sticky note.
Larry
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