Comments for Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Comment from Ossy on 2011-10-25

2011-10-25T18:02:05Z

Hi guys,

I was wondering, with a VPN (such as hotspot shield) can the hotel still see the websites you visit?

Thanks.

In general, no. A VPN sets up an encrypted tunnel between your computer and the VPN service that the hotel would not be able to penetrate. They'd see that you'd connected to the service, and nothing further.

25-Oct-2011

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Eric on 2011-02-15

2011-02-15T21:24:30Z

Hi Leo,

Please compare the security provided by VPN, VNC, and SSH.

Related to this, I have been trying to connect an iPad using iSSH to a Win 7-64 bit desktop and an XP laptop both running tightVNC and freeSSHd. The problem is that on both machines the SSH tunnel is established but then immediately disconnects without connecting to VNC no matter what settings I try. Perhaps you have a suggestion as to what might be wrong.

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ron on 2011-02-15

2011-02-15T19:34:03Z

Good advice.

As Lester pointed out, Gmail was the first to offer HTTPS, now Hotmail has followed suit. I use it all the time for both services.

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Lester on 2011-02-15

2011-02-15T16:19:30Z

Gmail now uses https for web mail by default. If you have an older account, you need to switch it from http. Also, Teamviewer is a free service that allows you to set up a VPN to your home machine. Then you can run your web browser from there. Either method should take care of the concern in this article.

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Jessie on 2010-11-23

2010-11-23T19:30:44Z

Hi Leo, I'm guessing this still does not stop the Hotel from seeing the amount of Traffic you are downloading?

That's correct.

24-Nov-2010

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Keith on 2010-08-09

2010-08-09T16:55:42Z

Hi Leo First I really would like to thank you for this article it is very interesting and clears off a lot of ideas. But I was looking to find if someone can suggest me a good, fast and highly secure free VPN and help me on how to set it up because I need to encrypt my data between my pc and this VPN so that ISP won't sniff around. I'm sorry I'm this newbie but any help I would appreciate it.

+I used a free VPN which was very easy to set up and when I went to a website that is blacklisted by my ISP this site still didn't load up and when I went to an encrypted proxy the page got up fine (although very slow)

Thanks alot for any help

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Alex on 2010-07-20

2010-07-20T17:37:18Z

I'm a bit confused about the VPN part. Suppose I register with an online VPN server to route my web surfing through them. Then, my traffic between my machine and the VPN server is encrypted, but isn't it in the clear from the VPN server to the actual service I want to access? Otherwise, the other service won't be able to understand my request. Unless, of course, the VPN server also opens a tunnel to the other side. Does it do it? If it does not, anyone watching between the VPN and the final service could theoretically steal my login information, right?
Please, this is a doubt I've had for a long time and I couldn't still find a satisfying answer.

You are correct - a VPN protects your connection to the VPN service, which it typically that part of your connection most at risk by virtue of being in a hotel, coffee shop or whatnot. The connection between the VPN service and the final destination is typically in the clear, but it also travels a much less vulnerable path: server to server.

22-Jul-2010

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Anthon B on 2010-03-23

2010-03-23T23:11:16Z

Hotel Chains will most likely not sniff any end users traffic. Being in the industry, We do not sniff or monitor web traffic, accept for bandwidth usage. We do use an advanced network management software system, to assign and act as a proxy server, thus that is why you will always see a browser tell you the connection is not secure, when in fact it is very secure. Our system does not allow DHCP address', that we assign to be shared or seen by any other ip address with in the same domain. And you cant be part of the domain with out being assigned a dhcp address. There is no reason for me or my IT department to waste our time trying to sniff our guests usage, or any other monitoring of any kind. The vast majority of IT professionals agree with this, and do everything possible to ensure the security of our networks. Unless you go to a cheap hotel, that has not spent money on a good infrastructure, and network management system, there is no reason to be worried about someone sniffing your system. If you do get sniffed, it is most likely that you have a virus or malware on your system, and it has been doing this all along. Not because of the hotels system.
Come visit us at Zermatt Resort

I'm sure that the vast majority of hotels are exactly as you describe: not in the least bit interested in what their guests are doing on the internet. However I've also absolutely heard of situations where random individual empoloyees watching guest's internet traffic. Perhaps the most risk comes from network setups that often allow guests to sniff each others internet traffic.

26-Mar-2010

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Kevin on 2010-03-01

2010-03-02T00:17:20Z

You bet they can sniff any traffic on their network. Large hotel chains likely use advanced network management software and platforms to keep an eye on what's happening on their network, particularly as it relates to bandwidth hogging etc... There's tons of high-end network management software that does this.

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from N3T D3VIL on 2008-08-01

2008-08-01T22:42:17Z

I hate to burst your bubble Leo but using SSL is no more secure these days than unencrypted connections. With modern poisoning programs (ie Cain, Wireshark) you can easily sniff https as well as http.

Of course you can sniff it, but actually decrypting the data within it is significantly harder, to the point of being practically impossible.

-Leo

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Michael Horowitz on 2008-02-18

2008-02-19T05:21:32Z

For more on this subject see
Defending against insecure hotel networks with a VPN
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13554_1-9874115-33.html

]]>

A comment on: Can hotels sniff my internet traffic?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.