is online banking safe if you use a unsecure wireless network?
A question asked by wilkstar23: is online banking safe if you use a unsecure wireless network?
We have norton and barclays bank is a secure encrypted site but our wireless network is unsecure, but we are waiting for someone to set up the secure network. But would it be ok to online bank while the wireless network is unsecure or should i wait?
Selected answer:
Answer by Nimz
Make your Unsecured wireless network secure. People can still scam an unsecured wireless network because even though the website is secured that doesn’t mean that the signal is secured.
Agree or disagree? Leave your own thoughts below.
Tagged with: banking • network • online • safe • unsecure • wireless
Filed under: Online Banking
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
By all means, wait.
As it currently stands, all you have is a ‘hotspot’.
Because ‘open’ networks have no encryption between your unit and the router, everything you send or receive is in plain text. Meaning that a hacker, with a commonly available application, can intercept and log all of your traffic ‘packets’; and with commonly available software, can run “brute force” programs that crack passwords.
So the best advice is: do not visit sites that are private, or require ‘log-in’, or credit cards, banks, etc.
One of the reasons is any computer can have it’s MAC address ‘spoofed’ (forged) so that the router transmits to any computer with this MAC address. No encryption = transmissions are up for grabs.
edit: “Kahless” I suggest you go to GRC/Security Now, and in Advanced Search box, type ‘man-in-the-middle attacks’ & ‘hotspot security’…then read; a lot.
As long as you are banking through a site that starts with https, it is secure. Your transaction is encrypted. It doesn’t matter whether your network is secure.
I would not log into any website if you are on a public or unsecure network.
I am going to school for this and it is extremely easy to get peoples passwords from when they log in. One class had gotten over 30 passwords because they where in a network, even though they were logging into a secure site.
Dane