Protect data when using public Wi-Fi: Use a VPN!

Post date: Jun 18, 2018 8:55:59 PM

GUEST Blogger -- Mike Dargan

Isn’t it great to sit down with a double mocha latte at the local snob coffee shop, whipping out the iPad, agreeing to the cafe’s acceptable use policy and attaching to the free Wi-Fi? Leaning back in that cushy booth, logging into the bank app and paying the month’s bill in your private little corner of the world? What could go wrong? Hold on there! If you’re not connecting to that free Wi-Fi with a VPN, your correspondence could be easily intercepted by the bad guys! Login credentials, bank account and credit card numbers might all there for the taking.

The hapless Internet surfer might think, “How is this possible?” I’m in Joe’s Coffee Cup Shop, I see the SSID (i.e., Service Set Identifier--used to publicize a Wi-Fi access point) is “Joes_Coffee,” I’ve known Joe for years and am confident of his honesty and technical competence. Surely, everything is fine.

He also sees that he’s connecting with HTTPS and knows that all of the traffic is therefore encrypted and routed through the secure port 443. Perfectly secure, right? However, what if the user gets in a hurry and connects to “Joes-Coffee” or “JoesCoffee”? (See the subtle difference? ) Things could go very wrong in a hurry!

It’s cheap and easy to set up a rogue Wi-Fi router (AKA Honey Pot”) controlled by a bad guy who can read your traffic. If so, all of your traffic will be observed by the criminals and put to their use. Login credentials, credit card and bank information, social media and email credentials will all fall into the hacker’s hands. However, the criminal’s task becomes much more difficult if you use a personal VPN when connecting to the Wi-Fi on a public access point. The hacker can see the traffic, but he or she isn’t able to decrypt it, therefore rendering it useless.

What is a VPN? What are the pros and cons? Should you use one? VPN is an abbreviation of Virtual Private Network. A VPN is typically a client/server system where both ends share a key that is used to encrypt/decrypt traffic. You download VPN software on your devices. The server, more precisely, a “proxy server,” then forwards the traffic, on behalf of your clients, to the intended target, e.g., bank, credit card company, social media site, email, etc. An added benefit of the proxy server is that the originating IP address is not available to the target site, thereby providing anonymity. Keep in mind, though, that the VPN server managers are not enthused about protecting the privacy of clients bent on violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998; it’s possible that they will block typical P2P ports used by Bittorrent. In other words, using a VPN to anonymously download copyrighted movies isn’t as easy as it might appear.

However, the VPN is not without issues. The encryption/decryption of the data and the secure forwarding of traffic takes time. Not much time, if you’re using a good service, however, latency will be greater when using a VPN. Another problem is that some sites will not work with VPNs. Netflix, for example, can detect a VPN and will insist on not using it. A good work around is to download Netflix media from a trusted access point without the VPN for offline viewing later. Another issue is the possibility of malware defeating your VPN. In other words, if a rogue application gets between you and your VPN client, the encryption can be defeated. There are decent ways to mitigate the malware issue, but that’s a topic for another column.

Furthermore, VPNs cost money to run; you’re going to have to pay for that client. And, the client you want to buy for your family’s devices may not work on every Internet gadget in the house. If you want the convenience of a VPN client that runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, MacOS, Windows, and Kindle Fire, etc., be sure to test or ask before you buy. And, before you buy, get a recommendation from a trusted site that reviews VPNs; my favorites are CNET and PC-Magazine. When my current VPN client subscription comes up for renewal, I’m going to take a hard look at the Cisco AnyConnect Client. When I see “Cisco” I feel confident. When I see that it’s “free” I want to give it a trial.

Despite the hazards of connecting to the Internet without a VPN it appears that most users choose to do without and take their chances. Let’s hope that they’re lucky. Thomas Gray tells us that “if ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise.” Ignorance of unsafe Internet surfing is blissful until one’s privacy is violated. Using a VPN to protect the privacy of important data is the very wise decision.

June 18, 2018