Internet Security

[Psycho and Barb]

We use a fee based VPN service all the time...Even at home on our own wireless network.  We no longer get advertisements for our local area...We get them for the area our VPN says our IP Address is.  The VPN Service runs in the background and is always on unless we turn it off...It doesn’t slow down our performance at all and our service covers all our devices...iPads, iPhones and laptops

[Sizzlechest]

On 1/12/2020 at 4:28 PM, fredflint said:

My research has shown that https traffic can be intercepted and decrypted.

 

 

It is not easy this is one place where it was discussed.

 

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/213921/how-can-kazakhstan-perform-mitm-attacks-on-all-https-traffic

I believe a VPN if you can make the connection would be more secure.  I would not use a free VPN or one that offered lifetime VPN for a small fee.  They have to run a certain number of servers and make money so just do the math.

 

Many company computer networks have a similar setup so they can control and see what the employees are doing

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/213921/how-can-kazakhstan-perform-mitm-attacks-on-all-https-traffic

 

teamviewer connecting back to a computer at home could be a better solution.

 

teamviewer is free for personal use and they they make a lot of $$$ on the commercial side.

 

https://www.teamviewer.com/en/products/teamviewer/

 

 

Simple answer is I check my email but don't do banking as a matter of routine.  However I have a 28 day trip coming up and may need to do it to pay bills or trust my daughter to pay my bills 🙂

 

So hackers or daughter?

 

 

 

 

Teamviewer didn't work for me on the Anthem last year. Not all connections are high speed. I suspect they prioritize for the major streaming services and social media networks.

[Iamcruzin]

My Amazon account was hacked at home by someone  using a Russian Domain. Amazon shut my account down before I even knew about it. I’m positive my bank would handle it the same way. I use my phone constantly to make bank transactions and even to order and pay for fast food. I’m using public WiFi now.  

[fredflint]

all the more reason to have credit cards and accounts at more than one bank just in case things get shut down on travel.

 

make sure you have something like a Visa and Mastercard from different sources like Chase or Bank of America

Amex, Discover.

 

You never know when an account will be frozen, in the old days I had cards that were turned off due to travel even when we notified them of the overseas travel.

[TRadle]

On 1/12/2020 at 3:28 PM, fredflint said:

 

 

 

Simple answer is I check my email but don't do banking as a matter of routine.  However I have a 28 day trip coming up and may need to do it to pay bills or trust my daughter to pay my bills 🙂

 

So hackers or daughter?

 

 

I use my bank's pay bill feature.  You can set this up with most banks and they will send the payment for you when you schedule it.  I do this for all my bills now because I have more control than using autopay. 

[horric29]

On 1/12/2020 at 4:28 PM, fredflint said:

My research has shown that https traffic can be intercepted and decrypted.

 

 

It is not easy this is one place where it was discussed.

 

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/213921/how-can-kazakhstan-perform-mitm-attacks-on-all-https-traffic

I believe a VPN if you can make the connection would be more secure.  I would not use a free VPN or one that offered lifetime VPN for a small fee.  They have to run a certain number of servers and make money so just do the math.

 

Many company computer networks have a similar setup so they can control and see what the employees are doing

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/213921/how-can-kazakhstan-perform-mitm-attacks-on-all-https-traffic

 

teamviewer connecting back to a computer at home could be a better solution.

 

teamviewer is free for personal use and they they make a lot of $$$ on the commercial side.

 

https://www.teamviewer.com/en/products/teamviewer/

 

 

Simple answer is I check my email but don't do banking as a matter of routine.  However I have a 28 day trip coming up and may need to do it to pay bills or trust my daughter to pay my bills 🙂

 

So hackers or daughter?

 

 

This is 100% accurate, https traffic can certainly be intercepted & inspected.  Here is documentation from a brand of corporate firewall that allows you to do certificate inspection and perform a "man-in-the-middle" attack to intercept encrypted traffic.  On a corporate network they would typically load the certificate onto your system so that you do not see a certificate error:  https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate/6.2.0/cookbook/122078/deep-inspection

 

That being said, we typically exempt banking, healthcare, ...    I highly doubt Royal Caribbean has an interest in deep inspecting your HTTPS traffic beyond what sites your visiting for big data purposes.  As other people have noted, make sure the URL looks correct and the lock is up there in the nav bar.  Most people, even technical people, fall for phishing scams in email, you have quite a bit more to worry about there than a corporate entity stealing your usernames and passwords. 

[SRF]

13 hours ago, fredflint said:

all the more reason to have credit cards and accounts at more than one bank just in case things get shut down on travel.

 

make sure you have something like a Visa and Mastercard from different sources like Chase or Bank of America

Amex, Discover.

 

You never know when an account will be frozen, in the old days I had cards that were turned off due to travel even when we notified them of the overseas travel.

 

Some cards can shut off all transaction except those that are processed with the physical card.

 

I had one card hacked while I was traveling, and the CC company offered this to me.  It was not critical, as I was not using that card to travel, but I thought it was a great service.

[SRF]

11 hours ago, TRadle said:

I use my bank's pay bill feature.  You can set this up with most banks and they will send the payment for you when you schedule it.  I do this for all my bills now because I have more control than using autopay. 

 

I do the same, but for people doing long trips, the next bill will not be available, but the payment due before they return.

[nadinenurse1]

Thank u for the multiple card idea I like Amer Express as back up I have no idea why I think I am seduced by their advertising lol

[whitsmom]

On 1/10/2020 at 10:44 AM, SRF said:

If the web address starts with https it is a secure connection from your browser to the site.  If is is http it may not be secure.

 

Also, once you go to the site, before you enter your info, look at the address bar. If you see an icon like a closed padlock, you have a secure connection.  I just noticed CC is a secure connection.

 

The other option is to use a VPN.   However there have been some reports of some VPNs being blocked on some ships.

We were on NCL Getaway in November and we had to turn off our VPN to use the internet.