Using your own laptop in Internet cafes in SE Asia

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Is it safe to do internet banking E-trading etc using your laptop in internetcafes in Thailand, China, Bali etc? I just plugged the internet cable or LAN cable into my laptop and used it. Surely they can't have a keylogger or something connected to a LAN cable can they?
 
I would be very leary mostly being in a foreign country.
When i do banking on line i always use virtual keyboard.
Should be built into windows. hit the 'F1' on the desktop and query 'virtual keyboard'. i also have it in my virus program. i use it to type in the account number and password, etc, for access.
Just another thought.
 
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Is it safe to do internet banking E-trading etc using your laptop in internetcafes in Thailand, China, Bali etc? I just plugged the internet cable or LAN cable into my laptop and used it. Surely they can't have a keylogger or something connected to a LAN cable can they?

Logging into well known financial institutions on public WiFi is actually much less dangerous than most people believe. If you go to a banks login page you should see that the URL at the top starts with "https" (instead of http) and there should be a little padlock icon somewhere at the bottom of your browser. This indicates that this page is using SSL, which means that any data exchanged between you and the site you're visiting is secured with 128 bit encryption, which is recognized as being unbreakable with the current computing power available.

On thing you want to be on the lookout for, however, is someone trying to "spoof" the security certificate the site is using. If this happens then you should see a pop-up that says that something about the security certificate is amiss, and it will ask you if you still want to continue exchanging data with the site. While this doesn't necessarily mean that someone is trying to steal data, if you see it while using public wifi I would discontinue using that particular network.

I would be very leary mostly being in a foreign country.
When i do banking on line i always use virtual keyboard.
Should be built into windows. hit the 'F1' on the desktop and query 'virtual keyboard'. i also have it in my virus program. i use it to type in the account number and password, etc, for access.
Just another thought.

This isn't really an effective measure to protect your information on public wifi. First of all, this method would only be used to thwart a keylogger, something that would have to be installed on your computer. Keyloggers can be masked as other programs, but regardless you have pretty much the same risk no matter what internet connection you're using. This isn't going to protect you against anyone trying to intercept your data. Also, from what I understand, using the built in Windows Virtual Keyboard isn't much more secure than using a normal keyboard even in relation to keyloggers, since many out there have no problem recording keystrokes on the virtual keyboard as well. If this is something that you're worried about, you would be much better off using a third party virtual keyboard rather than the one that comes with windows.
 
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Good thought and agree. Your also right about the certificate in the system tray. Ive always clicked the certificate and verify the info. I have a netbook at home. straight shooter. do not google, or even check email. Not yet. Its strictly business and work. On the lighter side about 12 yrs ago i was interested in something off the internet. this site is not legit i was thinking.
it was more like a picture in the system tray only. Passed it up.

Ive been over seas and many places in the during my travels.
I just try to be as safe as i can also.

I would love to go back to Venice Italy, Alaska. Indonesia is on my list. thanks..........

Italy was expensive though. that was a swoop of money. Always needed more. Exchange has to be right. Refresher is always welcome. Ive been using Kaskerys Internet Security.
Has a bit of everything i think.
 
surely though using your own laptop is better than the cafes one. Did get my laptop in China mind you and my English OS was installed using a ghost system there.
 
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