How to protect myself from my neighbors/apartment manager looking at my online activity?

Question

Details in the link, read the answers. Long story short I'm not safe. I'm mildly technologically retarded so don't use techy talk :B. Tor kind of creeps me out because someone on the other side of the world can see what I'm doing and whoever's spying on me could get the history of some freak, right?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlA4UmS2BNUqrkg34C5SyuHsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20110313182759AAZjWAa

Answer 1

You need to use encryption. Otherwise someone with a packet sniffer can watch the traffic between you and the sites you visit. Firstly check out the HTTPS Everywhere firefox extension (https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere) and always make sure you use the https version when visiting websites like google (https://encrypted.google.com/).



Tor shouldn't scare you. Using tor is the same as using the regular internet. Your ISP and apartment manager can spy on you if they want. The difference is that your traffic is anonymous so that if you are looking at some weird porn site (as you mention) they won't be able to track it back to you. Yes, the exit node can monitor all the traffic that comes out of it but it can't trace it back to its origin unless you do something stupid like enter your name/address into a website while using tor which renders the point of being anonymous mute. When using tor you should use exactly the same precautions as above and use encryption if you are transmitting any sensitive data that you don't want watched (such as emails or IMs). The main downside of tor is that the network is slow.



I read your previous post. If you are that worried I would do two things. For your banking just use your regular connection (virtually all banks use encryption). Your manager won't be able to steal those passwords because they are encrypted. However, if he has the technical know-how he will still be able to see that you are talking to your bank. Encryption doesn't hide who you are talking to, it just scrambles the data between. Now if you have some weird taste in porn (to each their own) I would view that over tor. Most porn sites don't offer encryption so you are out of luck there. Would you rather your apartment manager see you connecting to www.insertkinkywebsitehere.com? If you use tor the person running the exit node will be able to see that SOMEONE is connecting to that website but won't be able to figure out who (unless you start putting all your info into the site). Also tor automatically encrypts the connection between you and the rest of the tor network so your manager can't spy on you. REMEMBER! All data coming out of the exit node goes out the same way it came in. So if it goes in encrypted (e.g. httpS://www.google.com ) it will come out encrypted. If it goes in unencrypted (e.g. http://www.google.com ) it will come out unencrypted.



Read more about how tor works here: https://www.torproject.org/about/overview.html

Answer 2

Go with a wired connection to your own DSL or cable modem. Be sure wifi is turned off if it has it. Then the only possible snoopers are those running the ISP servers and perhaps law enforcement if they have a good enough reason to get what amounts to a wire tap order. Oh and don't forget all the servers between you and what ever web page you might be using.



The rule of thumb is don't do anything online your grandmother wouldn't approve of. It's all recorded, duplicated and you can find it with Google and other search engines. Some of my posts from over 20 years ago can still be found with the right search parameters.



Again, snooping is virtually impossible over an encrypted link such as banking and online stores.



If you are really worried, you might be able to find an anonymous proxy that encrypts for the things grandma wouldn't approve of. You still have to worry about the people running the anonymous proxy in case they want to snoop.



The odds of anyone trying to snoop are fairly low, but not impossible. It's how the internet works. Get over it. If you really need to be that paranoid, then you might want to look for help in the psychology section and maybe they can point you to the help you really need.



Shadow Wolf

Answer 3

Don't use your truly identify, deal with, cellphone quantity, SSN, date of start and many others. until you most likely must (e.g. get a kit introduced) or mandated via legislation (investments). Use an additional ID/password for extraordinary web sites - or a minimum of extraordinary ones for banking, investments and many others. and gaming/boards/social web sites. Forums are not going to have commercial-force protection on their servers. Pick unguessable password reset questions - no longer stuff that any individual can discover in Google for your buddy's Facebook pages. Don't fall for the "ship us your password to reactivate your e-mail" or "learn this attachment to assert your kit" scams. Encrypt your personal know-how if you'll be able to - passwords, tax returns, clinical documents and many others. - your computer is also stolen regardless of how well your antivirus. Use SSL finish-to-finish encryption in which you'll be able to, specifically at unfastened wifi hotspots. Don't use privileged money owed (administrator, root) on-line. Use a consistent non-privileged account - it stops many viruses useless, makes it simpler to scrub out others, and prevents them entering method documents, BIOS and many others. Keep your apps updated (specifically whatever from Adobe like Flash participant). Keep Java updated or dispose of the plugin if you happen to in no way use it.

Answer 4

The ONLY secure encrypted connection over any WiFi is a VPN (Virtual Private Network; Point to Point Tunneling Protocol)

Eavesdroppers could see that you are connecting to the VPN server, but after that it's all noise, and no tracks.

Answer 5

The short answer is that whoever can connect to this "free" wifi type of signal, can see what every other person is doing that's connected to this signal being provided by the "owner" of the signal ( the manager, for example ).