Computer Security At Hotels

When was the last time you visited a hotel, plugged in your laptop, and logged into your gmail account?

Do you recall the last time you connected to Free Public Wifi to quickly check your eBay actions? Looking back, don't you wonder who else may have been listening in on your Internet activity? Let's find out how to protect yourself against unwanted network 'wiretappers'...



First and foremost, always use extreme caution when using free public Internet such as hotel internet connections. The amount of effort put into installing and maintaining internet security precautions at hotels, motels, coffee shops, and internet cafes is typically pitiful. These environments do not have any motivation or expertise to put much effort into securing the network access they provide their customers. An individual will never be able to motivate free Internet providers to utilize defense in depth techniques or expect them to follow the principle of least privilege. Perhaps if enough of us yell loudly...

According to a study done on hotel network security, many establishments have deployed network hubs instead of switches (hubs transmit any traffic to all connected computers instead of only to the intended recipient) just to save a buck or are unaware of the functional difference.

The best defense against while connecting to the Internet in a public location is to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection back to your home, work or school Internet. This effectively forwards all your network activity to the remote location, as if you were physically sitting there. This also provides you with all the proper defense in depth network safeguards deployed at those locations such as firewalls, web filters, anti-virus, and other network security devices. When you establish a VPN tunnel from a public Internet access spot, all of your network activity is tunneled and encrypted to the remote network. Anyone connected to the public access can now only see jibberish being sent to and from your laptop. If you do not have a access to a remote site via VPN, consider a paid solution such as HotSpotVPN.

On your laptop, also ensure that a firewall is installed and functioning. Whenever possible, use https:// instead of http:// for websites requiring usernames, passwords or other personal information. While connected via the public access location, pay special attention to security alerts from your browser to ensure you are not visiting a forged website (or if a man in the middle attack is being performed against you.)

What are your additional hotel computing privacy tips?