client-side security of a wi-fi network

hi,

The university I'm studying in offers wi-fi access to the Internet. I
understand that there will be no way to make the connection 100% secure, I
just want to try to make it more difficult for others to hack my machine.
I'm using a personal firewall to prevent outside access. How about the data
that I sent out? Is there a better way to login to the email accounts or
other online services? Or should I prevent them by all means?

Thanks in advance.

Simon

In article <MPPbb.15$(E-Mail Removed) >,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> hi,
>
> The university I'm studying in offers wi-fi access to the Internet. I
> understand that there will be no way to make the connection 100% secure, I
> just want to try to make it more difficult for others to hack my machine.
> I'm using a personal firewall to prevent outside access. How about the data
> that I sent out? Is there a better way to login to the email accounts or
> other online services? Or should I prevent them by all means?

The short answer is that anything you send across the wi-fi link,
without strong encryption, should be considered fair game. WEP is not
"strong encryption". The amount of traffic a university hot-spot is
likely to generate will make cracking their WEP keys relatively easy.

Avoid the use of POP3 email clients, unless it is through an encrypted
tunnel. Odds are that your school has this available.

If your email host offers web mail, via an SSL connection you can safely
use it, provided that the site is secured with a certificate from a
recognized authority.

"Neb Revod" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) .net...
> In article <MPPbb.15$(E-Mail Removed) >,
> (E-Mail Removed) says...
> > hi,
> >
> > The university I'm studying in offers wi-fi access to the Internet. I
> > understand that there will be no way to make the connection 100% secure,
I
> > just want to try to make it more difficult for others to hack my
machine.
> > I'm using a personal firewall to prevent outside access. How about the
data
> > that I sent out? Is there a better way to login to the email accounts or
> > other online services? Or should I prevent them by all means?
>
> The short answer is that anything you send across the wi-fi link,
> without strong encryption, should be considered fair game. WEP is not
> "strong encryption". The amount of traffic a university hot-spot is
> likely to generate will make cracking their WEP keys relatively easy.
>
> Avoid the use of POP3 email clients, unless it is through an encrypted
> tunnel. Odds are that your school has this available.
>
> If your email host offers web mail, via an SSL connection you can safely
> use it, provided that the site is secured with a certificate from a
> recognized authority.

Thanks very much. I'll try to find out if my school supports encrypted
tunnel.