Secure internet abroad

Drexxer

Drexxer

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Hi all,

What do people do about secure internet use when abroad?, I'm wary of going on internet banking etc, so only use at home

if we were away for longer than a normal holiday we would require access and i'm not sure of the best option

Andy
 
Don't use free WiFi for anything sensitive. It's probably safe but if you access the Internet through a mobile or Mifi you will be as safe as if you were at home.
 
Same here... use mobile phone connection. Its worked for me for the past 8 years.

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As all above.. Use your phone for connection. Dont do it via shared / free wifi..
Never had an issue and used it regular when we had the apartment in Benidorm and while travelling around Europe.
 
Just use the internet on your phone the same as you do at home. If you have free wi fi somewhere don’t do banking etc. Happy travels. (y)
 
It depends where you are getting data from. If public or campsite download an antivirus but if it's your roam like home data just do what you normally do in the UK. We have internet with BT, which comes with McAfee also 3 Internet With Legs and with these we don't take any further measures. In the public domain be careful of hotspots as these can by set up by almost anyone anywhere.

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Re "consider using a VPN" comment. If you are using your phones cellular connection then you're OK. If, however, your phone has connected to the Internet via a site / coffee shop / other wifi connection then, even if the connection needs a password, a VPN would be wise.
 
I suspect a VPN makes things less secure. Just adding another organisation into the loop.
 
I am no expert but I thought the only advantage of using a VPN was to fool any website you were on into thinking you were in a particular country, normally the UK. That enabled you to download content from that country that you would not be able to in other countries for copyright reasons. So, for example, you can't use iplayer unless the website thinks you are in the UK.

However, as others have said, if you are using a UK SIM abroad, either in your phone or mifi, it will report that you are in the UK, so you do not need a VPN. If you are using a SIM from the country you are in or are using local wifi then you do need to have a VPN to use country specific websites like iplayer.

Have I got that right or are there other reasons why you would want to use a VPN?
 
peterc10 said:
I am no expert but I thought the only advantage of using a VPN was to fool any website you were on into thinking you were in a particular country, normally the UK. That enabled you to download content from that country that you would not be able to in other countries for copyright reasons. So, for example, you can't use iplayer unless the website thinks you are in the UK.
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The app ones are really just to hide your identity.
A proper VPN operates via a secure tunnel between networks, i.e. you can set up a VPN Tunnel to connect to your home or office network, no 3rd party servers involved. Common use is companies connecting between offices and people working from home connecting to the office server.
 
Lenny HB said:
The app ones are really just to hide your identity.
A proper VPN operates via a secure tunnel between networks, i.e. you can set up a VPN Tunnel to connect to your home or office network, no 3rd party servers involved. Common use is companies connecting between offices and people working from home connecting to the office server.
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Well I rated that as "informative", but not sure I fully understood the "tunnel" analogy but no need for any other explanation because it will probably go over my head. So does that mean that with a proper VPN you can only use the tunnel when both ends are statically defined, as in the examples you give. If so, would that work when you are moving from place to place and using local Wifis all over the place?

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peterc10 said:
Well I rated that as "informative", but not sure I fully understood the "tunnel" analogy but no need for any other explanation because it will probably go over my head. So does that mean that with a proper VPN you can only use the tunnel when both ends are statically defined, as in the examples you give. If so, would that work when you are moving from place to place and using local Wifis all over the place?
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Yes you can use client software on your portable device but if you use local wifi you could still be hacked on the portable device.
 
I think people are more cautious than is necessary when using wifi etc.
The key is whether or not your transmissions are encrypted. If not then over open wifi they could be visible. But if they are encrypted you are safe because no-one could interpret anything if they saw it.
VPN's are encrypted, but also so are modern browsers provided they use secure https and not http to connect. I would say all banking connections use https, and Chrome, IE etc all support 256bit encryption. So you transmission is encrypted in the browser before it is sent across wifi. Just make sure https is used (the little padlock tells you) and, in my view, you can relax, you are as safe as you are at home.
 
motorhomer said:
I think people are more cautious than is necessary when using wifi etc.
The key is whether or not your transmissions are encrypted. If not then over open wifi they could be visible. But if they are encrypted you are safe because no-one could interpret anything if they saw it.
VPN's are encrypted, but also so are modern browsers provided they use secure https and not http to connect. I would say all banking connections use https, and Chrome, IE etc all support 256bit encryption. So you transmission is encrypted in the browser before it is sent across wifi. Just make sure https is used (the little padlock tells you) and, in my view, you can relax, you are as safe as you are at home.
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What you are transmitting & receiving will be encrypted but the wiFi connection would allow a hacker to access your local machine.
 
Lenny HB said:
What you are transmitting & receiving will be encrypted but the wiFi connection would allow a hacker to access your local machine.
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An open wifi might allow you to see which machines are connected but accessing them is highly unlikely if your permissions and sharing and firewall are all set correctly. You should always use a decent firewall/av system.
 
motorhomer said:
An open wifi might allow you to see which machines are connected but accessing them is highly unlikely if your permissions and sharing and firewall are all set correctly. You should always use a decent firewall/av system.
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Any techie with a bit of hacking experience will get past a software firewall in minutes. For proper security, you need to use a decent hardware firewall which will be many times the price of your laptop.

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Install mcafee security on your phone or iPad, it will check your WiFi connection and tell you to disconnect if not secure, mostly free and public. At least you will be informed and decide what to look at on the free and insecure networks. It’s free so you have nothing to lose
 
MacAfee will slow your internet speed down try AVG it’s free I have used it forears and never had a problem. if you use a Mac. They recommend Malware also free used it for 8 years and it contains any viruses you can see them and delete at your leisure
 
After using AVG and Avast for many years I have now switched to Bitdefender which I pay about £16.00 for Total Security on 5 devices. It covers both Windows and Android devices - Macs as well I think and has quite a few additional features (VPN, Safepay) which are quite useful. It does very well in AV reviews.They always have offers so don't pay the full price of about £70.00!

Using the above and my mobile device as a hotspot I am more than happy with the security.
 
Vipar said:
MacAfee will slow your internet speed down try AVG it’s free I have used it forears and never had a problem. if you use a Mac. They recommend Malware also free used it for 8 years and it contains any viruses you can see them and delete at your leisure
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Mcafee on a computer/laptop is a nightmare for slowing things down but doesn’t seem to impact my iPhone or iPad once its installed. malware and viruses are two different things - you need an antivirus and a malware checker. In my post I was only talking iphone and iPad. As stated, the sensible thing is not to use public or free WiFi.

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If you are connected to the internet using a public Wi-Fi connection and you are connected to a website such as your bank using the secure https protocol with a genuine Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate to encrypt all communication between yourself and your bank been for all intents and purposes your communications will be secure as no one has yet hacked the SSL encryption although certain government agencies may have this capability.

However using a public Wi-Fi connection does present certain risks as the networking infrastructure is being provided by a third party whom you have no control over. In particular the IP address and in many cases the domain name system (DNS) will be provided by the host network. It is theoretically possible for the host network to provide bogus DNS responses which direct you to to a bogus internet destination which could then pretend to be your bank and provide what appears to be all the necessary security protocols and there are other potential security risks in what is known as a man in the middle attack where you may think you are connected to a genuine website but in fact your communications are being relayed by a middle man.

The scenario described is not likely to be effective against the majority of people using their internet banking facility in the correct manner however if the fraudster can perform the attack enough times then sooner or later someone will probably have some other vulnerability in their computer phone which gives the fraudster an advantage and it could be possible for the fraudster to install control software on the computer or phone which could then come into play when you are using a genuinely secure connection to communicate with your bank.

Even you are in a McDonald's restaurant and you are using the McDonald's Wi-Fi how do you know that the Service Set Identifier (SSID) that you have connected to is genuinely McDonald's and not some fraudster?

The above could be good reasons for not using public Wi-Fi.

I don't think this explanation is 100% correct but it is pretty much the best way I can describe it.

Mark
 
I always connect to anything sensitive through the Safari search engine on my iPad or Mac and though I’m aware it traffics through Google I understand it’s security is extremely secure and filters out everything nasty.
 
A VPN serves no purpose to hide the content of an SSL connection. As Mark said, it is already encrypted and the effort to decrypt it would be enormously expensive if at all possible. In any case, anyone with the means to decypher an SSL encrypted traffic can use the same kind of method to decipher the VPN traffic.

The only things you hide with a VPN is your location.
 
I use Nord VPN and TOR, I can't see anyone other than a government being able to access my banking data over internet whether here or abroad. Why would someone go to incredible expense to try to hack my data. Doesn't make sense!
 
My UK bak issues a small keypad into which I have to enter my PIN to generate a unique code to enter for my account and each transaction.

Can that be hacked whatever connection I use? I usually use latop tethered to phone.

Geoff

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