[SCCC] FYI: Protection Agaisnt Hacked Wi-Fi Transmissions

[H Lawrence Serra]

Slightly off-topic:

Since my last ATT/Yahoo email account hijacking while on travel, using a hotel's unsecured wi-fi, I have done some research and discussed the problem with others more knowledgeable than I.

I use GoToMyPC, a secure remote log-in to my office computer. GTMPC has a
 feature called "one-time passwords" for travel, which issues a 
list of password keys that you use one at a time when you log-in, so if
 anyone captures that P/W, it is invalid if they try to use it the next 
time. But even using my secure GoToMyPC connection to the secure ofc 
computer isn't much protection if I send over it the log-in info for the 
secondary ATT/Yahoo account over a hotel's unsecured wi-fi. It's still 
easily readable by hackers. 

Best suggestion I've heard so far is
 to use my iPhone (or any smartphone or Blackberry) as a modem hard-wired to the travel laptop or iPad, so
 you are transmitting over your secure (I hope) data network rather than
 hotel's unsecured wi-fi. 

And good advice is that when making 
hotel reservations, make sure they have a secure wi-fi, protected with not general but specific passwords-- you know, the kind where they print 
out a specific, discrete, alpha-numeric password for each guest when he 
checks into the hotel. (But I've read up on this, and it is amazingly 
easy with open source software for a hacker to decrypt any of these 
wi-fi router passwords in a few seconds.)

Anyway, email hijacking aside, if your travel communications are important and need to remain confidential, it is worth it to take additional security measures to increase communications security.

I know there are many others of our ham groups who know a lot more about this. If anyone has specific information on how to effect better communications security, especially on travel, please speak up.

73, Larry N6NC