How can I protect my data through a wireless connection?

[aim high]

I get distracted easily in my room, especially in a dorm. how could i be more secure if i wanted to work in the library or something with wireless?

 

[alexb]

Disable your computer's guest account. Make sure your computer is password protected and that your user owns all of the files.

If you're really paranoid, don't connect to open networks or networks that only use WEP.

 

[aim high]

Disable your computer's guest account. Make sure your computer is password protected and that your user owns all of the files.

If you're really paranoid, don't connect to open networks or networks that only use WEP.

my school's wireless requires a login to use the internet but i'm afraid someone is intercepting my data with a sniffer or something. like if i access my credit card accounts or login to networks, im paranoid they would steal my data.

 

[ayzo]

my school's wireless requires a login to use the internet but i'm afraid someone is intercepting my data with a sniffer or something. like if i access my credit card accounts or login to networks, im paranoid they would steal my data.

HotSpotVPN

 

[gutterseo]

ssh into your home pc and start a vnc session from there.

 

[tangy]

if you have a shell account somewhere (like a dedicated server) you can use a ssh tunnel to your webhost which you access through a proxy port on your pc.

I recommend Tunnelier - Tunnelier (Bitvise)

Once you get Tunnelier, you basically fill in your shell account details and it will make an ssh connection to your dedicated server.

Then, click the "Services" tab and check off the box to enable "Socks / HTTP Proxy forwarding". Set the listen interface to 127.0.0.1 and the port to whatever you want your local proxy port to be. Just use something like 1234 or 31337 if you want to be cool.

Once you login and Tunnelier connects, you can minimize it. Go to your browser's settings and you're going to want to turn on the use of a SOCKS proxy. In Firefox, go Tools, Options open that up. On the network tab, there is a button that says "Settings" in the Connection box - click that.

Then, select "Manual Proxy Configuration" and clear all the boxes down to the SOCKS options. For the IP, put in 127.0.0.1 and put in the port number you selected earlier (31337 if you're cool). Click OK until you're out of the menu.

Congrats, you are now browsing the web securely.

 

[Easy Rider]

Set up your own OpenVPN server on any cheap VDS with TUN access and enjoy it.

 

[FortressDewey]

Tangy...good stuff....i have bookmarked.