6 Use Secure Connections

Setting up a secure connection ensures reasonable protection from eavesdroppers and impersonators.

Without using secure connections, your internet traffic is not encrypted. Anyone who wants to access your email and other internet transactions can observe or “listen” to your traffic allowing them to easily obtain your login and passwords.

• Don’t use public Wi-Fi hotspots without using a VPN connection – especially if you are connecting a business PC or device
  
  Using a VPN connection encrypts traffic between your device and the VPN server; it makes it more difficult for an intruder to sniff your data. This is one of the best ways to keep your browsing session safe.
• If a website supports SSL connection, always use SSL (HTTPS instead of HTTP)
  
  If the website you are accessing supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, you can select this option to have all information sent through a secured connection. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a protocol for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data − a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message.
• Following are additional tips and best practices for accessing public Wi-Fi
  • install and enable personal firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software;
  • keep security patches and wireless network interface card drivers up-to-date;
  • enable the wireless device's power-on login, system login authentication, and password-protected screen saver;
  • do not enable both wireless and wired network interface card at the same time;
  • do not connect to uncertain/strange network;
  • do not send sensitive / personal information when using public Wi-Fi service;
  • turn off peer-to-peer / ad-hoc mode networking and disable resource sharing;