Can anyone tell how I can set my device to a more secure setting when using public wifi?

[Nana Helen]

My laptop has 3 security levels for when using WiFi. For a home WiFi the least secure and a public WiFi the most secure.
I'm using a public WiFi now and have searched my tablet settings for those sort of options, but can't find anything.
Thanks

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[mazbeach]

Consider using a VPN, especially one that is well encrypted.

 

[anon(55900)]

Hotspot shield in play store, free and premium versions.

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[Nana Helen]

Consider using a VPN, especially one that is well encrypted.

Thanks mazbeach, but whats a VPN? I assume its an app? Does that mean the android devices dont have the safer option for public wifi, or is the VPN is better?

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[anon(55900)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network

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[anon(55900)]

If your techy you can set up VPN for free using settings on your phone plus external third parties or get an app.

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[SpookDroid]

Hi Nana, just note that those settings in your computer don't really make your connection any more secure, just activates a few firewall options on Local Network access and File Sharing options, but the WiFi security is still the same.

I'm not sure if there are Firewall apps for phones, but apps like Knox for Samsung phones do keep things a bit more secure.

 

[Nana Helen]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network

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Thankyou so much for that link!!!
Wow! thats definitely something i want to do.

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[Nana Helen]

If your techy you can set up VPN for free using settings on your phone plus external third parties or get an app.

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Im a bit techy, but sometimes memory (or lack of lol) gets in the way.
But if it all makes sense from the start (and this does!) im often ok. So il read all of that wiki write up, decide how il do it.....Well thats plan A

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[Nana Helen]

Hi Nana, just note that those settings in your computer don't really make your connection any more secure, just activates a few firewall options on Local Network access and File Sharing options, but the WiFi security is still the same.

I'm not sure if there are Firewall apps for phones, but apps like Knox for Samsung phones do keep things a bit more secure.

Thats worth knowing! I didnt do any reading on it, just assumed - bit silly since its to do with security
But we live & learn
Thanks Spook

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[Rukbat]

I'm not sure if there are Firewall apps for phones

Loads. Look in the Play store.

but apps like Knox for Samsung phones do keep things a bit more secure.

More secure for Samsung's bank account. Knox is Samsung's answer to "we don't want employees bringing their smartphones into work and stealing all our corporate secrets".

BTW, Linux internet security makes Windows firewall look like Swiss cheese minus the cheese. And that's before you start mucking around making it secure.

But the internet isn't for paranoids. (Or single noids either.) If no one is working on a powerline virus yet, it's just because no one thought of it yet. If you want to keep a computer 100% safe, operate it at the bottom of a lead mine and power it with the radioactivity coming from the planet's core.

If your data is worth enough, someone is going to pay enough to steal it. It's why Yale still makes those little things you can stick keys into. Honesty is not a survival trait.

I have secured passwords on my phone. No locker - I just swipe to use the phone. If you want to get into my bank account badly enough to rent time on a supercomputer and waste a week of your life (there are few levels of government-strength encryption involved - cheap app), go ahead. But you're not going to get enough money to make the commute to the office profitable.

If you want to get to where the real money is ... well, that's not on my phone. The phone number of the guy I can call to call the guy who has that number is on my phone, But he'll only talk to me, not to the guy who stole my phone.

You don't secure the gold in Fort Knox by putting up stronger gates. You secure it by storing it in a vault in Switzerland - and laughing at all the idiots trying to burn through the gates at Ft. Knox. And if you're nasty, you fill the place with Monopoly money.

 

[SpookDroid]

Funny, since the adoption of 'Bring your Own Phone to Work' is on the (steep) rise... That's why Knox (and a bunch of other suits in other brands, led by soon-to-be-defunct-even-though-they're-in-denial BlackBerry) came up. But yeah, if anyone really wants what's in your phone, they'll get it, Knox or not. As for the Ft. Knox/Switzerland analogy... I don't quite agree. I mean, isn't moving your money to another vault kinda the same as getting it behind a stronger wall? And isn't that what firewalls and VPNs attempt to do? Fooling others into thinking you're not the phone you're looking for.

But, like you said, the Internet of things is not for the paranoids. And a phone is not the place for you to store your most valuable data, definitely.

 

[someguy01234]

You can give acevpn a try, it's pretty affordable. You can use PPTP, L2TP or OpenVPN tunneling, which is easy to setup and they have instruction.

I prefer OpenVPN, which required more hand on and I think you need root too since it required installing modules like tun.ko. There are OpenVPN apps and tun.ko installer on the playstore. But otherwise it's pretty easy to setup PPTP: Configure Ace PPTP VPN on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

 

[Rukbat]

Funny, since the adoption of 'Bring your Own Phone to Work' is on the (steep) rise.

Fine. You buy a Knoxified phone that you can't download an app to without an act of Congress. I want a phone I can use for personal use, never bring into an office (unless I'm visiting someone) and can root, ROM and do anything else to - without worrying that looking at the back of the phone voids the warranty.

They make Mini Coopers, but not for hauling freight. Why should I have to pay for a Peterbilt when I want to drive down the block?

As for the Ft. Knox/Switzerland analogy... I don't quite agree. I mean, isn't moving your money to another vault kinda the same as getting it behind a stronger wall?

No, it;s putting a big sign on Ft. Knox saying "This is where we keep our money" and a little sign on the Swiss vault saying "sewerage dump". How many people are looking to steal raw sewage these days?

And isn't that what firewalls and VPNs attempt to do? Fooling others into thinking you're not the phone you're looking for.

Nope. A firewall sees an incoming packet, says "Hmm - no one asked for this" and drops it on the floor. The sender never knows that there was a firewall at that address. A VPN? That just basically makes your data look like noise addressed to nowhere. Not anything someone would want to bother with.

I have a device I can make and receive phone calls (and now, texts) on. I have a device that's a lot more powerful than the $7,000 notebook I bought decades ago (which, BTW, still works - if you like running Windows 3.11). They happen to be the same device. They fit (just barely) in my shirt pocket. It makes life easier. I can see what TV shows are going to be on tonight, save time shopping at some stores, keep track of who in the family is working when - I can even show the cop my car insurance "card" on my cellphone, like what-his-name, the pig.

But I'm not the guy driving the sign truck with his Social Security number all over TV land. If it's that important that absolutely no one can ever know about it except the guy I'm telling about it, we drive 300 miles out into the desert, walk 2 miles from the car and I whisper it into his ear (after implanting the remote-triggerable cyanide capsule in his jaw bone).

Wanna know my latest solitaire score? Steal my cellphone. Wanna know how my stocks are doing? Buy a copy of the WSJ. But I don't see why I can't buy either (or both) a secure-as-we-know-how-to-make-it device that probably can't be broken into in any economically efficient way and/or a large, fast, full-of-RAM-and-ROM device to play with that I wouldn't put my drivers' license number on. I was against big-brotherism the first time I read 1984 (which was before we became "advisors" in 'Nam), and I still am. Don't tell me how much security I need on my phone - that's what the company with the fruit with the bite taken out of it does. Let me decide whether I want a very secure phone, or one you can BT-hijack with a gum wrapper and a paper clip. (My solitaire scores aren't worth as much as a used gum wrapper.)

 

[SpookDroid]

Wow, you really are a paranoid dude, aren't you... I guess I just don't have all that info to worry about in my phone.

 

[Dr Rose]

Thanks mazbeach, but whats a VPN? I assume its an app? Does that mean the android devices dont have the safer option for public wifi, or is the VPN is better?

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VPN technology is based on the idea of tunneling. With this connection, packets are encapsulated within some other base or carrier protocol, then transmitted between a VPN client and server, and finally de-encapsulated on the receiving side.
Fortunately Android has a built-in VPN client however you have to signup with a third-party hosting company or setup your own free server with Windows, UltraVPN, OpenVPN in order to use it.
To check if you have the VPN client, tap Home > Menu and touch Settings > Wireless & Networks, and then see if there’s an option for VPN settings.
SSH Tunnel app for connecting to an SSH server is an alternative but it requires a rooted device. SSH Tunnel also lets you bypass filters and geographic restriction as well.
Hope it could help.