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Topic: How to stay safe when browsing on hotspots or public wifi - page 2. (Read 667 times)

full member
Activity: 1750
Merit: 186
Tryninja, i dont use a vpn for my regular windows 10 computer which i do everything crypto related on.  I also only connect my wifi only and sometimes my phones hotspot when tethering.  I do not connect it to public wifi outside ever.


I use my chromebook to web browse and thus sites that might be virus, i dont mind because i have nothing important on my chromebook.  I use a free vpn from the play store for it just fine. 


But you say if i use my win 10 laptop outside using public wifi, get a paid vpn and use it... but that will protect me when doing transactions related to crypto?  The reason i never use it outside is b/c i do not want to connect it to public wifi so i rarely have it outside.  If i do, i tether from phone but of course uses lot of data.
legendary
Activity: 2758
Merit: 6830
Just curious but i use a chromebook for my web browsing.  Thus if i visit sites im not sure of i use it instead of my main windows computer.

But if you are not doing any transactions with crypto or loggin into bank account or email, using a basic vpn is fine already then right if using it in public wifi?

So if i use my main laptop outside, unless i know its the coffee shop wifi for sure, then always use a paid vpn to make certain of this?
Why not use the paid VPN all the time? If you already got one, just choose it over the free VPN. There are no vantages on using the free basic one.
full member
Activity: 1750
Merit: 186
What if you are using a free vpn?  
Then you must be extremely careful with it. If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product. Keep in mind that the VPN you use may see and log what you are doing or even do worst things. That's why you must somehow trust your VPN provider, and there are not many free ones you can trust.

I don't recommend using a free VPN (especially a random one). The only one that has a free plan and that I (personally) would trust is ProtonVPN.



Just curious but i use a chromebook for my web browsing.  Thus if i visit sites im not sure of i use it instead of my main windows computer.


But if you are not doing any transactions with crypto or loggin into bank account or email, using a basic vpn is fine already then right if using it in public wifi?


So if i use my main laptop outside, unless i know its the coffee shop wifi for sure, then always use a paid vpn to make certain of this?
sr. member
Activity: 966
Merit: 274
If you have bank accounts or anything that has a value for you on your phone/laptop and you don't want to be very technical, it's better not to connect on public WiFi at all. However if you really need it, just use other browser wherein you don't have your account signed in and don't log in using any of your account; just browse anonymously.
legendary
Activity: 2758
Merit: 6830
What if you are using a free vpn?  
Then you must be extremely careful with it. If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product. Keep in mind that the VPN you use may see and log what you are doing or even do worst things. That's why you must somehow trust your VPN provider, and there are not many free ones you can trust.

I don't recommend using a free VPN (especially a random one). The only one that has a free plan and that I (personally) would trust is ProtonVPN.
full member
Activity: 1750
Merit: 186
So if you use vpn, then your are safe when using public wifi no matter what?
I don't think you are always "100% safe no matter what" with anything, but there is a huge difference between using a VPN and not using it while in public wifi. You should definitely use one if you can. Without it, you are vulnerability to MITM attacks and people seeing what you are accessing.


What if you are using a free vpn? 
legendary
Activity: 2758
Merit: 6830
So if you use vpn, then your are safe when using public wifi no matter what?
I don't think you are always "100% safe no matter what" with anything, but there is a huge difference between using a VPN and not using it while in public wifi. You should definitely use one if you can. Without it, you are vulnerability to MITM attacks and people seeing what you are accessing.
full member
Activity: 1750
Merit: 186
So if you use vpn, then your are safe when using public wifi no matter what?
hero member
Activity: 2268
Merit: 669
Bitcoin Casino Est. 2013
I thank you for those sites, but I won't try using it now.
Some reasons:
- I don't actually have demand to use it for now (don't have need to download animated images at the moment).
- I will wait to get opinions or confirmations of others on those sites.
But once you have tested the tools in that site I was hoping that you could share your results after you have used the site. I am planning to compare the results the image you have use the tools in that site and I'll use the same tools of the same image you have download but before I can do that, I also need the source where you downloaded the image. Some cloud storage change the file size when uploaded in a cloud storage. File Size: 1.2MB and uploaded to the cloud storage then downloaded but the file size is now 1mb or less.

By the way, I felt happy to see you (one of my challenge's winners) moved nearly half of your pathway to Full Member.
Thank you for the sweet message. I did read your post about your achievement on becoming senior member which came into my mind that anyone can achieve full member rank as long as you tried your best. I'm even surprise when I open my account the next day and saw my account having what I have right now.
jr. member
Activity: 129
Merit: 1
Guys, you know you easily bind malicious software to images using a file binder after the virus or exploit has been encrypted to be undetectable it is usually bound together with a normal program or installs or an image file or doc file and then when it is run there is no trace of it.

What you can do if you want to check the image file is you can reverse engineer the image by using some tools like ida and check if you find some abnormalities in the code that you reverse engineer.

I used to do a fair share of malware research back in the day as well so if you find the jump point in the code that shows where the software itself starts or the image therefor and you find a jump point inside the code after you reverse engineer it that says something about running software or downloading something then you have found the virus.

but you would have to actually download the image and run it to get infected
legendary
Activity: 2310
Merit: 4085
Farewell o_e_l_e_o
I thank you for those sites, but I won't try using it now.
Some reasons:
- I don't actually have demand to use it for now (don't have need to download animated images at the moment).
- I will wait to get opinions or confirmations of others on those sites.

By the way, I felt happy to see you (one of my challenge's winners) moved nearly half of your pathway to Full Member.
Take Note: Test their tools in another device which is not yours or in an internet cafe before using it on your own devices for safety purposes.

Here are the links:
Tools:
https://metadefender.opswat.com/#!/
https://www.opswat.com/free-tools

Explanation:
https://www.opswat.com/blog/hacking-pictures-stegosploit-and-how-stop-it
hero member
Activity: 2268
Merit: 669
Bitcoin Casino Est. 2013
My computers always installed internet security and updated database. Maybe you raised a good point here about the hidden threats from animated images, and their operational mechanism to spread threats. However, as you said, and as I wanted, I would like to get solutions to check potential threats inside animated images.
I have rarely download animated images, despite of I sometimes like them. If there are ways to check threats in animated images, I might download safe ones after checking.
I don't know if this is working 100% because I haven't tried checking images that may/had contained hidden codes that will be activated once the animated images loaded. You can try this one to check if an image contains a threat that can harm/take vital information that you stored on your device.

Take Note: Test their tools in another device which is not yours or in an internet cafe before using it on your own devices for safety purposes.

Here are the links:
Tools:
https://metadefender.opswat.com/#!/
https://www.opswat.com/free-tools

Explanation:
https://www.opswat.com/blog/hacking-pictures-stegosploit-and-how-stop-it
full member
Activity: 504
Merit: 127
Match365> be a part of 150BTC inviting bonus
It is very risky to use VPN which required an access to your device(mobile device)/application(computer browsers) before you can use it. Avoid data sharing and more program that will ask permission to access your data that can be shared without you noticing.

How to secure and stay safely from animated images?
Well, animated images can be combined with link that may have program that can take information or files after you got redirected to somewhere else that only bring harm in your device like viruses, malwares and more. What I meant about that is an animated images on internet. Some animated images like GIF will take you to a site that will automatic downloading a file that you haven't downloaded. I don't know any solution to this but make sure you update your anti-virus up to date most of the time and avoid clicking any images especially if it is given by a person on real time. It is the same in an animated button that will help you navigate which some will use it in hacking.
I don't think using VPN can make you safe in browsing using hotspot of public wifi since you are connected to it and you are being surveillance by the owner of that wifi you are connected to.
legendary
Activity: 2310
Merit: 4085
Farewell o_e_l_e_o
My computers always installed internet security and updated database. Maybe you raised a good point here about the hidden threats from animated images, and their operational mechanism to spread threats. However, as you said, and as I wanted, I would like to get solutions to check potential threats inside animated images.
I have rarely download animated images, despite of I sometimes like them. If there are ways to check threats in animated images, I might download safe ones after checking.
Well, animated images can be combined with link that may have program that can take information or files after you got redirected to somewhere else that only bring harm in your device like viruses, malwares and more. What I meant about that is an animated images on internet. Some animated images like GIF will take you to a site that will automatic downloading a file that you haven't downloaded. I don't know any solution to this but make sure you update your anti-virus up to date most of the time and avoid clicking any images especially if it is given by a person on real time. It is the same in an animated button that will help you navigate which some will use it in hacking.
hero member
Activity: 2268
Merit: 669
Bitcoin Casino Est. 2013
It is very risky to use VPN which required an access to your device(mobile device)/application(computer browsers) before you can use it. Avoid data sharing and more program that will ask permission to access your data that can be shared without you noticing.

How to secure and stay safely from animated images?
Well, animated images can be combined with link that may have program that can take information or files after you got redirected to somewhere else that only bring harm in your device like viruses, malwares and more. What I meant about that is an animated images on internet. Some animated images like GIF will take you to a site that will automatic downloading a file that you haven't downloaded. I don't know any solution to this but make sure you update your anti-virus up to date most of the time and avoid clicking any images especially if it is given by a person on real time. It is the same in an animated button that will help you navigate which some will use it in hacking.
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 3045
Top Crypto Casino
Just don't connect your device to public WI-FI networks unless you have to do so.

If you are connected to a public WI-FI make sure to access only HTTPS websites and never transmit any sensitive data.
Also make sure to turn off "file sharing" on your device.
 
A hacker on the same network will try to exploit old vulnerabilities, hence, a good practice is to always update all your softwares to patch security flaws.   
legendary
Activity: 1624
Merit: 2481
So you wouldn’t trust a random wi-fi, but you would trust just any old malicious VPN you happened to find on ‘underground forums’. That’s bad advice.

This. VPN provider can read and modify and save all traffic.


The best way to stay safe when being connected to an open wifi is to connect to your own vpn server at home.

Simply get a raspberry pi if you don't want to have your PC running when your not at home, and install OpenVPN.
You will be able to route the whole traffic through your home-network.

When only rarely being in an open wifi, this seems to be overkill. But if you regularly use open wifi's it might be worth to get a raspberry pi to host a vpn server.
jr. member
Activity: 129
Merit: 1
You can disable most all scripts in firefox using NoScript addon and more
turn off js and all the others so that the images don't autoload

or just download tor browser it's fairly safe
full member
Activity: 168
Merit: 214
WhoTookMyCrypto.com
You give me great tips to secure my life when connect to Internet. By the way, I would like to ask you and others that how to secure and stay safely from animated images? I read somewhere else that such animated images have higher security risks on static images. Does it right? If yes, how to stay safe from animated images when my friend send them to me?

Hey mate, unfortunately don't have a good answer to this. However, getting viruses from opening pictures (static or animated) is hard in general. Your best prevention in such scenarios is simply not opening photos from suspicious sources. Would update you if there is a better way to deal with this. Thanks for highlighting it.
member
Activity: 126
Merit: 10
use your own VPN server if you know how-to setup maybe thats will be better safe i think.
much more cheap server and support for TUN/Tap Tunning like OpenVPN, etc.
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