jharrelson
Carson City, Nevada
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I did not want to hijack the other thread about using WIFI, so I have posted this thread..
There is an old adage that says....
"What man can build, Man can destroy"
What does this mean with reference to using WIFI ?.....
Simply put, ... no WIFI, either "Open" or "Encrypted" is safe from people who want to look at what you are doing online when you are using WIFI..
Because no matter how well a WIFI signal may be "Encrypted" ...(encoded)... it can be easily unencrypted or "decoded" by a computer expert with the know-how and proper equiptment....
The word "Encryption" is just another way of saying "Secret Code"..
I know of only two "Secret Codes" or "Encryptions" that were never broken by the "Enemy" during a conflict..
One was the "STAFF" code and the other was the "TIC-TAC-TOE" code..(TTT)
The "Staff" code, most people know about from their high school "World History" classes.
But the "TTT" code is still relatively unknown to most of the world, .... even here in America where it was invented and used during the Civil War by Southern prisoners to sneak messages to their families and southern military forces.
For those folks who believe their personal information is safe when using the Internet in any form or fashion, whether it be encrypted WIFI, emails or any other means of electronic transmissions, Please know that I respect your belief and wish you well..
as for me... I will stick to the US Mail for all things requiring my personal information..
>>>> before some of you jump up and mention the WWll Navajo "Code Talkers"...
They were not using a "Code" or "Encryption" ... it was simply a language that the enemy did not know and therefore there was no "encryption" or "Secret Code" to break..
Best Wishes,
John
John Harrelson
Carson City, Nevada
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The story goes that a man died and was approached by the Devil who told him that he could buy his soul back for a dollar. The man searched his pockets and could only come up with 98 cent. While begging the Devil to forget the two cent he was short, an Angel happened by and hearing the Devil laughing, asked the man, "Would you mind if I put in my two cents ?" The Devil got so mad that he exploded in a puff of smoke and the man's soul was saved.
The moral: Sometimes putting in your two cents worth makes a difference.
JOHN "the cook" 1997
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Burp
St. George's Island, MD
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Before spreading doom and gloom, please provide an example where encrypted WiFi has been compromised. I am not saying it cannot be done but has it been done. First the hacker would have to be close enough to intercept the signal, WiFi has a limited range. Then they would have to spend the effort to isolate your traffic and decode it. The rewards are much greater by hacking into a department store system and capture credit card info or into government system and get personal information.
And what makes snail mail any more secure? All they have to do is steam open the envelope, read the information, reseal and forward the mail. So, you think all USPS employees are honest? 99.9% are but it only takes one bad apple.
Be cautious but do not be paranoid.
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Briteskys
Mesa, AZ
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jharrelson wrote:
as for me... I will stick to the US Mail for all things requiring my personal information..
Atta boy John. The mail IS safe.. as long as the stagecoach doesn't get robbed or the horse gets sick. 
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PopBeavers
San Jose, CA
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I would expect encrypted WiFi to be as secure as https, which is used all the time.
I use encrypted vpn over encrypted WiFi. I don't lose any sleep over it, and neither does my employer.
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joshjack
Alabama
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jharrelson wrote:
Because no matter how well a WIFI signal may be "Encrypted" ...(encoded)... it can be easily unencrypted or "decoded" by a computer expert with the know-how and proper equiptment....
You left out one thing: TIME. In my post in the other WiFi discussion I said that reputable sites use encryption and you're relatively safe giving financial information on those sites - because the transmission is encrypted. This means it should be safe from your computer to the site's computer regardless of whether you're at home, at Starbucks, ethernet, or WiFi, or AirCard.
The latest encryption methods thus far do not have security holes limiting hackers to "brute-force" attacks. For the AES 128bit standard, estimates on current computer systems place a brute force attack as taking 149 trillion years to be successful. Furthermore, AES 128 is acceptable for Military communications, and AES 192 is acceptable for TOP SECRET designated communications by the NSA. Given that, many banks are now using AES 256, so we should be fine.
J
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TMBLSN
Washington State
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jharrelson wrote:
>>>> before some of you jump up and mention the WWll Navajo "Code Talkers"...
They were not using a "Code" or "Encryption" ... it was simply a language that the enemy did not know and therefore there was no "encryption" or "Secret Code" to break..
How do you define 'secret code' or 'encryption', if not a 'language that someone else doesn't know'?
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creeper
Richmond Hill, Georgia
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Joined: 12/22/2003
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jharrelson wrote:I
as for me... I will stick to the US Mail for all things requiring my personal information..
That's funny. You give us this doom and gloom on wifi security and yet you choose to use one of the most compromised forms of communication for personal data.
While you may be able to at some point get into my wifi, after spending some time parked in front of my house or being some Nasa type hacker to break into my VPN at starbucks, yet any bum off the street can walk up to your mail box and take anything they want out of your mail box, or just simply walk up to the postal truck and take anything they want while the carrier is out delivering mail. NO SPECIAL SKILLS OR EQUIPMENT NEEDED. Most hackers won't bother because there are too many open wifi systems.
Then lets not talk about the amount of lost mail each year or the no skill activity of dumpster diving. Even shredding has been found not to thwart would be thieves.
I'll stick to my encryption, firewalls and VPN's any day over putting a piece of paper with all my personal data in a blue box, which is then handed off to many different people, left in unsecured trucks and very often delivered to wrong addresses.
My pension checks used to come via the us mail. One day, I see someone I don't know putting there hand in my mail box. I ran outside and confronted the person. They quickly stated they live down the street and had received my mail in error. The next day I signed up to have my checks deposited via direct deposit.
I OFTEN receive my neighbors mail and I now check the addressee before I open anything. I once opened mail without looking and was shocked to see a collection notice. Only when I saw the name did I realize it was the wrong address/ wrong person and obviously put in the wrong box. The notice had all kinds of personal information.
You can keep the mail, it's a mess.
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djevans
Tennessee
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jharrelson . . .
As one who can "krack" wifi, it's not worth the time in most cases, but if it was, I'd simply run a tunnel in the traffic. It can be secured, "well enough." Even tunnels can be kracked given enough time and computer power.
I sure wouldn't get all upset about it. What, you think someone can't walk up to your mailbox and take your letter? How about just watching your trash for a while? You shredding everything?
I'm not exactly sure why you're so worried about this particular issue. Heck, these days you can purchase "off the shelf" equipment to listen to what is being simply spoken in someones home. WiFi is just one of many intrusions people suffer these days. How about the fact that "they" can monitor what's on your TV from the street in many cases. Or how about "baby monitors" that freely broadcast from people's homes on purely open channels. All sorts of "gotcha's" out there. I recently ran in to an open wifi IP camera. YIKES!
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JimInMA
Littleton, MA
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jharrelson wrote: I know of only two "Secret Codes" or "Encryptions" that were never broken by the "Enemy" during a conflict..
One was the "STAFF" code and the other was the "TIC-TAC-TOE" code..(TTT)
The "Staff" code, most people know about from their high school "World History" classes.
But the "TTT" code is still relatively unknown to most of the world, .... even here in America where it was invented and used during the Civil War by Southern prisoners to sneak messages to their families and southern military forces.
You should have mentioned that both of these are MANUAL encoding systems. I spent 21 years in the Air Force repairing and managing automated encryption systems and I assure you that there are numerous automated encoding systems that have never been broken - some dating from as far back as just after WWII.
That said, in comparison, the systems used with Wi-Fi (WES, WPA, WPA2) are fairly weak and they can be broken but it does take some work and doing it is beyond and "average" home computer user. The security available to Wi-Fi users isn't perfect but it is "good enough".
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magicbus
LBI, NJ
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Joined: 06/16/2002
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jharrelson wrote:as for me... I will stick to the US Mail for all things requiring my personal information.
Next time you are going to inject humor into a serious post please let us know in advance - I almost fell off my chair laughing - you caught me by such surprise!
Dave
Life doesn't come with a safety fence around it... enjoy it anyway.
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