How do I secure wireless capable laptop in a public location?

Greetings,

I have two desktops that are hard wired into a router that is connected to a
cable modem with Time Warner Cable. When I use my laptop I just plug the
laptop into the router and use it a I do my wired desktops.

How do I secure my laptop with WAP or WEP when I go to a motel and use their
free wireless network? I do not have a wireless router in my home. All
computers are hard wired into my SMC Barricade Broadband Router Model number
7004ABR.

I would like to use my wireless capable laptop in motels when I travel. How
do I go about setting it up so it is secured?

Thanks in advance for your help and understanding. I hope I gave you enough
information and understand what I am asking.

Leigh

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:30:20 -0800, "Leigh" <lgh@cts.com> wrote in
<45b8325c$0$16692$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>:

>I have two desktops that are hard wired into a router that is connected to a
>cable modem with Time Warner Cable. When I use my laptop I just plug the
>laptop into the router and use it a I do my wired desktops.
>
>How do I secure my laptop with WAP or WEP when I go to a motel and use their
>free wireless network? ...

You can't.

>I would like to use my wireless capable laptop in motels when I travel. How
>do I go about setting it up so it is secured?

<http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_How_To#Secure_Internet_access_in_a_public_hotsp ot>

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

"Leigh" <lgh@cts.com> wrote in message
news:45b8325c$0$16692$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Greetings,
>
> I have two desktops that are hard wired into a router that is connected to
> a cable modem with Time Warner Cable. When I use my laptop I just plug the
> laptop into the router and use it a I do my wired desktops.
>
> How do I secure my laptop with WAP or WEP when I go to a motel and use
> their free wireless network? I do not have a wireless router in my home.
> All computers are hard wired into my SMC Barricade Broadband Router Model
> number 7004ABR.
>
> I would like to use my wireless capable laptop in motels when I travel.
> How do I go about setting it up so it is secured?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help and understanding. I hope I gave you
> enough information and understand what I am asking.
>
> Leigh

Hi,

WPA and WEP are forms of encyption that are set in the wireless router or
access point.

If its not set, then you can't use it with your laptop.

Your two best tools to keep yourself secure when using an open wireless
network are common sense and a firewall.

The common sense tool is real simple: Just keep in mind that anything that
put out into the network could potentially be discovered. Don't do any
activity that could potentially lead to harm (such as identity theft).
I.e., don't access an online banking web site unless the web site is SSL'd
(encrypted) -- and the SSL encryption is from the login page, not just once
you have logged in. Also keep in mind that some "open hotspots" may
actually just be a masquerading honeypot. Security is a two-way street. I
travel relatively often also and although I haven't come across any yet, I
always do keep the potential in mind. Its not difficult to set these things
up. All someone needs is just a laptop. They don't even need an AP, as
there is software that will emulate an AP through wireless client cards.

You don't have to be overly paranoid when using open wireless hotspots, but
you do need to be cautious...

Leigh wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I have two desktops that are hard wired into a router that is connected to a
> cable modem with Time Warner Cable. When I use my laptop I just plug the
> laptop into the router and use it a I do my wired desktops.
>
> How do I secure my laptop with WAP or WEP when I go to a motel and use their
> free wireless network? I do not have a wireless router in my home. All
> computers are hard wired into my SMC Barricade Broadband Router Model number
> 7004ABR.
>
> I would like to use my wireless capable laptop in motels when I travel. How
> do I go about setting it up so it is secured?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help and understanding. I hope I gave you enough
> information and understand what I am asking.
>
> Leigh

See if your ISP offers VPN service. The better ISPs provide this on all
accounts, for example Sonic.net, which is the premier ISP in the San
Francisco Bay Area, includes VPN on all accounts. I checked Time-Warner
Cable, and unfortunately it appears as if their VPN service is only
available to business customers.

If your ISP doesn't offer VPN service, look into a private VPN service.

See "http://www.iopus.com/iPig/"

They used to have free accounts for individuals, but now the free
account is limited to a 10MB test account, then it's about $1/GB.

I think the best deal is at "http://www.jiwire.com/hotspot-helper.htm"
It's not really a VPN, but it should be fine for what you need, and it's
only $25/year. It used to be called "Spotlock."

> I would like to use my wireless capable laptop in motels when I travel.
How
> do I go about setting it up so it is secured?

If the network you connect to isn't using WPA or WEP then whatever you send
across the it will be unencypted. The only thing you could do about it
would be to make a VPN connection back to the house. This would encrypt
your traffic through a 'tunnel'. Nothing on the local airwaves would see
the contents of it. This would require you have something at home
configured to accept the incoming VPN connection. Either a PC, configured
appropriately, or a router that is designed to accept VPN connections.

I do this anytime I'm on the road. The downside to it is ALL my traffic
gets routed into it. In order to load a web page it has to encrypt the
packets, send them over the local wifi, back to the house, decrypt and then
forward from there to the Internet. The security is worth the potential
performance hits but in general it's not that bad.

-Bill Kearney