Reviewers Recommend
Showpiece 2Showpiece 2 - review by Captain Jack
Director: Laurent Sky
Starring: Matty, Kenna James, Scarlet Skies, Rissa May, Sky Wonderland, Sasha Tatcha, Annalena Reno, Della Kate. Read review
All Forums > Tech Talk > Tech Talk Forum Page 25 > Secure hotel browsing on Macbook?
AuthorPost
ChodeMasterJ
Perpetual Marxist

5405 Posts
4/03
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 4:05AM
Due to a stupid ass hurricane, i might be going out of town for a little while and I'm bringing my Macbook along. Is there anything I need to worry about while using hotel wifi or whatever to access the net with my Macbook? I'm kinda knowledge deficient about wireless networks, beyond the one I set up in my house.
Should I mess with the firewall any? I think I read something once about a setting that you can turn on if you're traveling and using 'public' networks that's supposed to make it more secure so no one can get into your computer. Did I imagine that or is that something you can do on Macs? This will be my baby's first trip to a public network...any precautions I should take? Thanks in advance guys.
LubeNLuv
Senior Member

1854 Posts
3/06
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 8:45AM
Biggest issue on a Mac or any other PC is ensuring you don't enable file sharing. I can't tell you the number of times I've booted up in a hotel room, brought up iTunes, and been able to not only listen to someone else's music but watch EVERY DAMN VIDEO THEY EVER TOOK OF THEMSELVES AND THEIR S/O DOING THE NASTY. I used caps there for emphasis. You can have file sharing disabled and some apps, like iTunes, have special "loopholes" allowing your files to be observed.
On a recent trip with a colleague I booted up my Mac and saw in iTunes the usual list of 15-20 other users on the same hotel WiFi, all with their libraries in iTunes open for sharing. My colleague was one of them (computer names are listed). He had a veritable cornucopia of fetish porn. Out of respect I didn't watch his videos but I have to say it was kinda hard not asking him the next day about his fascination with poopie.
So just ensure in iTunes you turn off file sharing, and you don't leave anything in your shared folder (in Finder look under your name for a folder called Sharing) and that should be sufficient for casual WiFi use. I'm not promising you won't get hacked by someone who knows what they are doing, but you have less to fear from these users than you do the casual snoopers.
HeyNow All-Star Supporter
Oblivious

Gold Star Hey!
5965 Posts
1/03
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 11:09AM
I have a lot to learn about computers. Oh god.
JohnW
Senior Member

1351 Posts
6/08
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 12:14PM
Hehe.. I have to install Itunes before I go on vacation next time I guess. I'll just have to remember not to add anything to its library.
LubeNLuv
Senior Member

1854 Posts
3/06
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 12:36PM
This didn't used to be a big deal as iTunes only contained music files. It's actually somewhat nice to "tune in" someone else's playlist. But since the advent of video/pictures to the iPod devices, I can tell you straight up that porn is alive and well on the business travelers laptop. :)
 
jayo All-Star Supporter
All-Star Member

2117 Posts
7/04
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 1:34PM
But are they worth watching? As much as I like amateurs, I don't want to have to bleach my eyes after seeing them. Most of us just shouldn't be seen naked.
LubeNLuv
Senior Member

1854 Posts
3/06
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 2:17PM
I've seen some pretty rank stuff a few times to be sure....fat people can have all the sex they want but filming it is just not right. But there was the time I was staying at a hotel in Berlin that was hosting a military convention of sorts....these guys had some lonely wives/gf's sending them webcam sex vids to show just how much they were missed. I quit looking at this stuff after the first few because it made me feel like such a pervert, and that's coming from someone who is really into amateur porn. Private porn was never meant to be shared, but much of it is unknowingly.
ChodeMasterJ, if you really get super-paranoid, pull up your System Preferences pane, click on Security, then the Firewall tab. For the duration of your hotel stay, just set it to "allow only essential connections" and you should be fine. Think of it as throwing a condom on your WiFi port for the duration of your unsafe surfing.
LubeNLuv
Senior Member

1854 Posts
3/06
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 2:18PM
**Edit Double Post** (happens a lot anymore, what's up with that?)
Edited by - lubenluv on 8/29/2008 2:18:50 PM
jayo All-Star Supporter
All-Star Member

2117 Posts
7/04
Posted - Aug 29 2008 : 5:08PM
Agreed. Damn morales.
Ryan_
Member

124 Posts
9/08
Posted - Sep 1 2008 : 2:01AM
Never do an transactions on a public WiFi network.
All Forums > Tech Talk > Tech Talk Forum Page 25Secure hotel browsing on Macbook?

Previous topic: IrfanView 4.20
Next topic: Windows Media Player problem



Jump To: