My dad comes to me for help with computers, and today, he came to me
with something completely outside my area of expertise, so I'm hoping
you guys can help me.
It concerns wireless networking. Keep in mind, I don't know anything
about networks, I keep my computers sandboxed and use removable media
to shuttle information between them. I have a wifi card for my laptop
at hot spots, but paranoia makes me only check sites that don't
require me to log in (and using my credit card over a wifi network is
a definite no-no).
My dad is planning a huge, long vacation later this year. He wants to
take his laptop, an Apple G4 iBook equipped with an Air****t card, with
for things like online banking. But he's concerned about computer
security and asked me to see how to keep things safe.
He doesn't have file sharing activated, so I'm not too concerned about
that. My concern is the actual data transmission. I have heard a
technique called "sidejacking" is on the rise. I always wondered
about wireless and, since everything is transmitted, if a receiver can
pick up the signals, analogous to another radio picking up the same
broadcast station. Based on some of the news I've been reading, my
concern is not only valid, but it is being used -- people can park at,
say, a Starbucks and "listen in" on other computers communicating with
the server, intercepting passwords, credit card numbers, etc.
I just got back from an Apple store, and when I asked the guy at the
Genius Bar about it, he said he had never heard of anyone sidejacking
in 5 years in the business. So no dice with him.
So, the basic question is, is there a way to secure data transmission
and receiving? Should he not use anything that doesn't ask for a WPA
password (no going to Panera Bread or Starbucks)? And, since a
sidejacker can pick up whatever is being sent, what's to keep them
from grabbing the WPA password or https encryptions and cracking them
anyway? Or, is there a book for a wifi security newbie that will help
clear this stuff up?
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