VPN? Do I really need one?

When you are connected to public WiFi it is trivial for someone with the knowledge to eavesdrop or even intercept the communication between your device and the server located on the internet that it is speaking to.

A simple example would be session hijacking. There are legitimate banking apps that are not 100% secure and may communicate information over an unencrypted connection. If your session information is transmitted insecurely a person with the know-how can simply hijack your session to gain control over your account at that moment.

A VPN is nice but it's not a requirement. Just be aware of what you are doing online and do not connect to hotpots that you are uncertain of. If you are transmitting any financial data or anything of a sensitive nature, make sure you are connected to a site using the HTTPS protocol. Note the "S". A normal HTTP connection transmits data in plain text that is humanly readable. HTTPS encrypts your communication so a malicious actor will not be able to intercept anything that is humanly readable.

If you have a home computer you can set up your own VPN to use while on the road instead of paying a service.

 

What is a VPN?

 

No I've been using public wifi for years now...

 

A Virtual Private Network.

There are different types of VPN's, but in general It creates an encrypted 'tunnel' between your device that connects over the internet to another device. This 'tunnel' encrypts all communication between the two endpoints (your phone and the VPN server for example) and prevents eavesdropping by making the data that is transferred between the devices unreadable. This is also one of the primary methods for inter-connectivity between business networks.

 

If you are using your laptop for the most part you don't have much to worry about as long as you make sure to connect to sites using HTTPS.

But it gets a little tricky now when you throw in wifi hotpots that you are unfamiliar with.

If you were to connect to a site over a unknown free wifi network and are greeted by the "this site is insecure" message in your browser but still click through to see the HTTPS URL in your address bar, there is a chance that you are being sent through a proxy which may have the ability to intercept your communication. Or it may be a web server that is misconfigured. Or it may be an SSL certificate on the site that has expired.

I do not recommend using those credit card or banking apps over an unfamiliar wifi network. If you need to use them just disable wifi and use your cellular data for that type of transaction.

I assume that Pilot's wifi is secured to prevent malicious behavior on the network, however this is a big assumption as I do not have any direct knowledge of their infrastructure.

 

Like a Verizon LTE wireless modem?

 

An LTE modem or a Verizon Jetpack are just devices that allow you to connect to the internet; they provide no additional security beyond your standard cellular data connection.

Here's a quick, simplified breakdown of how these computers and devices speak to one another over the internet.

When you communicate over the internet, there are a number of different protocols that are used for traffic between hosts. The protocol used to handle all communication between devices over the internet is called TCP/IP. Every time you type a website name in your browser and hit GO, your browser connects to what is basically like an internet directory to find out what server address (IP address) that domain name belongs to so that it can then establish a connection. This system of assigning named records to an IP address is the DNS protocol.

After using DNS to find the address of the server you want, your web browser connects to the IP address that DNS responded with and displays the website that server is dishing up using the HTTP or HTTPS protocols.

The difference between HTTP and HTTPS is that data moving over an HTTP connection is not encrypted, whereas HTTPS is 'Secure' by encrypting everything that moves between the web server and your computer or device.

Now, back to VPN's. A VPN tunnel is established over the internet between your computer or device and what is referred to as the VPN endpoint. Once you've established a VPN tunnel, any data that you transmit - whether it's the DNS lookup your computer is performing, or the website you are connecting to, etc. Everything you do is now encapsulated within this VPN tunnel and can not be intercepted over the internet.

This is a very simplified explanation and there are many more ways to compromise a network host through manipulation of the data being transmitted but should at least give you some sort of idea what's going on behind the scenes.

In summary - An LTE modem allows you to connect to the internet. A VPN tunnel encrypts all traffic you send through an LTE modem and over the internet.

 

The least expensive option would be to turn the wi-fi off and use your phone data plan when using a credit card, bank password, etc.