how secure is it to use public wifi to surf internet banking sites? i read somewhere before, those who r goot at hacking will take advantage of unifi service. i read that they can access the site we are surfing when using the same wifi. anyone care to explain? plus, are they accessing the site simultaneously with us when we're surfing or they can look up at our internet history and open up our visited site?

and if we're using internet banking via ipod/iphone/any mobile devices with free public wifi is it still safe? is it possible for these group of hackers see what we're surfing too?

not really sure about hackers who can access all your stuff by sharing the same public wifi.. but yet i think still its possible.. in fact the best way (in my opinion) try not to do any transaction via public wifi just for precaution..

unifi?

Anyway yes it is dangerous to use public connection for any kind of transaction. While there is a possible another hacker might snoop in, there's no telling the provider of said wifi isn't snooping around the traffic.

ouch. i thought its secure enough, as i done transactions while eating out. but u guys have any idea how do they know we're surfing internet banking?

yes unifi. i read somewhere n i believe in this forum also, someone pointing out that unifi is prone to hackers.

i think its secure enuff as using mobile confirmation in any transaction

but read in The Star saying tat percentage of online banking fraud/hacked increased?

Ok, let's see this from a different angle.
Is it safe to cross the street without the pedestrian crossing?
Yes and No, chances you will get hit, or summon for breaking the law.

However, we take our chances where we can out of: convenience.

That's the keyword here, convenience.

So, doing your online banking via a non-encrypted public wifi, is just not safe should be avoided entirely.
Despite there's a https between the client and the server of the bank, still. Even worse, using a public computer via public network to access banking info is suicide.

It's nothing to do with Unifi, using Unifi doesn't quadruple your chances of getting attack.

If you're using internet banking via a 3G network, not 802.11x i.e. WiFi, you have less chance of being attack while doing banking. This is because, it is a lot harder, possible, but harder to sniff radio packets. That's the sniffing part, session hijacking on your smart phone, possible, but harder to do then session hijacking on your PC.

So, if you're doing banking on the go, better to do it via your browser in your smart phone via a 3G/4g network as oppose to using your laptop or smartphone using a public WiFi.

People can just sit back and connect to the public wifi , use packet analyzer like wireshark to monitor each and every data traffic that transmit across the network , Even when you're at home ,you're using your wifi , and your friend come to your house and using your wifi at the same time when you're doing bank transaction,he can capture the data too , it's the matter of whether the data is encrypted or not , as the trifacta says , some website offer SSL encryption , which provide end to end user encryption , mostly bank website would have this service , but still there's already method to decrypt it as there's flaw on this technique , not necessary using home wifi is safe,i can just crack your wifi password,connect to it and wait for you to use it and get what i want,so the safest is using cable,if you really think sometime when you're in airport,you really have the need to connect to your bank account so that you could do some transaction,try subscribe to some good VPN service , it tunnel and encrypt all your data traffic so that hacker don't have the chance to look at your data,for your information,there's a plugin in firefox which could monitor the whole traffic on the same network , if it detect any raw data without encryption,straight it'll capture it and store inside that hacker's pc , so it's not only public wifi could cause your bank account to be stolen , even your home wifi could be too , it's just public wifi is more dangerous , and besides don't ever use public pc to connect your bank account,there might be keylogger inside,and not unifi that could cause this kind of thing to happen,any connection that is wifi would cause this thing to happen,don't you forget how wifi works,it's by using electromagnetic wave,and the wave move in air ,that's mean any data you input is broadcasted in the air,so people can just easily capture it,but cable different,if some would wanted to do somethng with it,they must come to your house,personally connect their laptop to your network with cable,which would cause themselves in jail lol,hope it helps.

This post has been edited by kailoonthedog: Mar 3 2011, 12:40 AM

Well said
Thanks bro
And using private 3g network is Much secured compared to public wifi

its about luck, if someone computer security expert or hackers there.. then you know what possible will happen next

wow.thanks though couldnt uderstand some of the terms i get the basic idea. thanks again

Personally, I dont thing they are able to hack because Internet Banking is done through HTTPS which means each transaction of sending or retrieving information to and from the bank server is being encrypted. The information you sent is encrypted, the information you retrieved is being encrypted as well. Unless the hacker knew the private key to decrypt the information. Other wise it is impossible to do so. I think what they mean hacker access to your internet banking is that because you are at a public area where people might be able to peek from behind your user name and password. Hahaha... Just my 2 cents... =)

I've got news for you, SSL has been broken since 2009 .
It was presented at our local HITB, much earlier than that at Defcon, Ruxcon, KeySecWest etc.

Here's a detail technical explanation courtesy of Techrepublic: SSL Really Broken This Time

In South Korea, the government has banned the use of SSL for banking as it does more harm than threat.
Instead, Microsoft has to made its browser friendly to PKI and Korean government only mandates the use of Windows OS and IE.
Every time MS releases a new browser, South Korea needs a lead time for them to configure the PKI.

naive
it been happening out there...
u can try to ebanking on public wifi...
see what happen to ur acct...

I normally never do internet banking outside... will only do it at home with my own internet line.. more safe..

public line is dangerous ... so better be more careful better than regret later

yeah, i agreed with u.

Hahaha... I tried before... Perhaps I was lucky that no hacker around to hack my account. Guess I have to be more careful next time... Thanks for the advice... =)

actually i did use public wifi for internet banking quite often too. since my account doesnt hev lotsof money i dont mind but sometimes i use my dads account as he requested me to transfer fr him.tats y im sked his acc will b hacked.
ive taken the stance not to use internet banking in public nymore

plus what about a public wifi but with minimal user? lets say im in tis cafe n i can only see just a normal customer w/o laptop or whatever device in amd outside d cafe. and im d only one with laptop or mobile wifi device is it still safe?

you shouldnt do transfers on a public network, only at home, you cant be too careful

You don't have to be physically seen at the cafe' to use the wifi
No, it's still not safe.

Back in 2005, this company which sold a product called AirDefense which was later bought over by Motorola did a Proof-Of-Concept at a cafe in KLCC. He jammed the signal, all users got DC then allowed his PC to become the router, hence every PC that connects is actually connecting to him.