Wifi Hot Spot security.

[smilodon]

I'm spending a fair amount of time using various wifi hot-spots in cafes, coffee shops and hotels etc. In fact I'm sending this using a wifi hot-spot in a local Cafe.

This specific wifi hot-spot is free but secured with a common password given to anybody who asks for it. So while my data is secure from random people not on the Cafes network it's completely open to anyone that is also connected to the wifi hot-spot. I make sure as much of my stuff is done over https but even so a lot of my surfing is still out there in the clear. I actually think some web based e-mail providers such as Hotmail and Yahoo leave https turned off by default!!

Anyway I'm looking for a more secure way to use wifi hot-spots. I've considered a commercial VPN but am not that keen on them. I'm still going to have to trust a 3rd party and all their employees with my data plus I'd rather not pay anyone for the service. I've tried a free VPN and it was horribly slow, plus most VPN providers only supply configuration software for Windows and Mac (not Linux which I'm running on my Net-book). It's it that hard to send me the settings as a text file and I'll add them into my network software.

So I though about the possibility of tunneling my http over ssh directly through my home router Netgear WRG614 v9 and out onto the internet. My e-mail and g-mail is already encrypted with TLS and https respectively so it's only web traffic I'm really bothered about. I'm pretty certain that my router cannot run an ssh daemon out of the box. The only 3rd party firmwear I can find DD-WRT won't work on my router.

So does anyone know of a cable router (not ADSL) that can  run ssh out of the box, accept my incoming VPN connection and go fetch my web page requests and send them back to my net-book?

Cheers

[T-Bag]

That sounds like the right way to go about it going from home, but is there an advantage using your router to do it rather than an old pc?

[smilodon]

Not really other than my router is turned on 24/7 and I tend to switch off my PC's when I'm away. A new sexy router with the facility built in is my first choice and a PC that's always on would be my second.

[Gorion]

smilo, have you heard about network dmz's?

Try reading this if you haven't.  You might be able to implement something similar.

Something to keep in mind though - as long as you're connected to the internet, you are vulnerable whatever security systems are in place.

[smilodon]

I can connect to my router no problem from the interweb. I just don't have any software on the router than can accept a http request and feed me back a web page to my net-book. I've been told there are routers out there than have this feature built in. i just have no idea which they are and if it's any good. I was hoping someone might have been down this road before me or set something similar up as part of their job.

I'm just lazy and want to stand on the shoulders of giants :wink: