If You Use Park WiFi, Use a VPN
05-10-2018
Author: in Education
I am currently sitting in an RV park using the park’s WiFi. My phone is also connected and it has an app that can see all other devices connected to the network. If my phone was rooted or I had the right computer software, I could send a special signal to the park’s router telling it to send all available traffic through me first. This is known as a Man in the Middle attack or MITM. Many public Wifis are vulnerable to these attacks.
Your bank probably takes security measures so a hacker won’t be able to see your password in the event of a MITM attack. Those security measures won’t hide the address, however. In other words, if you go to www.yourbank.com, anyone snooping would be able to see that address. There are several methods they can use to get the password once they know the bank site you use.
Your bank probably takes security measures so a hacker won’t be able to see your password in the event of a MITM attack. Those security measures won’t hide the address, however. In other words, if you go to www.yourbank.com, anyone snooping would be able to see that address. There are several methods they can use to get the password once they know the bank site you use.
Related Read: When To Use A WIFI Extender at the RV Park
I am no elite hacker. I know my way around a computer but I am far from being an expert. If I have the ability to do this from a smartphone, imagine what someone with the will and malicious intent to actually do it could accomplish. You really aren’t safe while browsing with an RV park, McDonald's, Starbucks or any other place that offers complimentary WiFi. How does one protect themselves?VPN
A VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. The original purpose for it was to establish a secure connection from one's workplace to their home over the internet. They encrypted all data going back and forth. The public now uses VPNs to encrypt all of their internet traffic and keep their information safe. When Mr. Hacker tries to intercept your data, all he sees is gibberish.Speed
Choosing an inexpensive VPN can hurt speed. This is no good in a public WiFi setting that may already be slow. Instead, look for VPNs that say they are intended for streaming and have no data limits.Related Read: To Pay Or Not To Pay For RV Park WiFi
Logging
Just like you don’t want Mr. Hacker knowing what you do online, you probably aren’t interested in the VPN service logging what you do either. Google and Facebook probably know more about you than you do already. No sense adding another company to that list. Make sure the VPN Company says they don’t log your traffic in any way that identifies you.What I Use
I use ExpressVPN. I happened to stumble across this company and signed up for a year. They are easy to use with apps for Windows and all of my other devices. Their program has a simple button to turn the VPN off and on. Other good VPNs are NordVPN and PureVPN. Just go to Google and type in “best VPN.” In today’s tech world, using a VPN is almost a must, so whichever you decide upon, make use of it and browse safely.Comment
wblissMay 30, 2018 | 06:25 PM
I appreciate your article about the value of a vpn for an RV and thank you for the recommendations. I'm computer savvy myself (20 years as a software qa person) but I have no What I haven't been able to learn is how the vpn is connected at the RV end. I sort of assume that I need a computer that acts as my VPN server, and therefore needs to be on even if I want to use the VPN for my smartphones. I don't know how I connect to the internet. do my devices connect to the park wifi and then I log into my VPN service and through that I then surf the web? Thanks for any more detail.
Author: Levi and Natalie Henley
