USB tethering to laptop safe?

[bucky]

I use my Verizon Android tethered to a laptop for internet access when traveling. Would a sniffer be able to find and access the connection? I've been thinking it would be secure but would like to know for sure.
Thanks for any input.

[austinjenna]

I make my password 'Incorrect' so if I type something else it will tell me 'Your password is Incorrect' my computer is so smart!

[Bobbo]

Use a password form. Have a set part, and a variable part. An example (this password form is made up and is not mine)

My first cousin is named Hal. I start all passwords with "H@l". (note that I changed the "a" to the "@" sign).

I then use the first 3 letters of the website. RV.NET would therefore get "rvn".

I then use a number, like the first 4 numbers of my parents' phone number growing up, "3652".

Therefore, my RV.NET password would be H@lrvn3652. Every website would have a different password since letters 4, 5 and 6 would change with every website, but I would only have 3 different letters to remember, and the website name gives me those.

[fj12ryder]

Testudo wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
An ideal password is very long and made up of a random mixture of upper and lower case characters, special characters, and numbers. And is nearly impossible to memorize

...but a very long password is the _point_ - - a memorable phrase like "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog", would take many years to 'force'.

( ...Just don't use THAT password ! That's MY password ! )

I'm thinking it wouldn't take that long since all the words are found in an English dictionary. Take out all the spaces and make it all one word, that might help.

I use Roboform to keep track of all my passwords. I couldn't even begin to remember as many as there are.

[Testudo]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
An ideal password is very long and made up of a random mixture of upper and lower case characters, special characters, and numbers. And is nearly impossible to memorize

...but a very long password is the _point_ - - a memorable phrase like "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog", would take many years to 'force'.

( ...Just don't use THAT password ! That's MY password ! )

[2oldman]

john&bet wrote:
This is all greek to me. AKA, you lost me.

All I know about this that it takes 8 bits to make a byte, which is one character. So the letter A is 8 bits. I do not know if that's what they're talking about.

[Dutch_12078]

john&bet wrote:
This is all greek to me. AKA, you lost me.

It means the longer and more random the password is, the more secure it is. An ideal password is very long and made up of a random mixture of upper and lower case characters, special characters, and numbers. And is nearly impossible to memorize... 😉

[john_bet]

magicbus wrote:
Ah, never saw it expressed this way before.

However your statement re: 32-bits for banking does beg the question why would you use that when their own chart says that is "weak"?

Password strength is determined with this chart, which might be a bit of a stretch for a non-critical password:

< 28 bits = Very Weak; might keep out family members
28 - 35 bits = Weak; should keep out most people, often good for desktop login passwords
36 - 59 bits = Reasonable; fairly secure passwords for network and company passwords
60 - 127 bits = Strong; can be good for guarding financial information
128+ bits = Very Strong; often overkill

This is all greek to me. AKA, you lost me.

[bob_nestor]

wa8yxm wrote:
First nothing on the internet is 100% secure. there are always to "Hack it" but the common Wi-Fi Sniffer can not hack a wire.. Only a radio.

So that is the MOST secure connection you can do.

Those packets are only secure on the journey to the first router. Beyond that you don't know what medium will be used to get the packet to the next router downstream and it could be wireless. Plus even on a wired network someone with access to the wire and knowledge can sniff or dump all the traffic. If you want a higher level of security you need to encrypt the packets end-to-end.

[mich800]

bucky wrote:
Thanks everybody.
I occasionally have to do some banking while on the road and was wondering.

Depending on what you are doing for banking. I pay most my bills directly via their specific app on my phone or directly in my banks app. Although there are some things that are easier from my laptop.

[2oldman]

bucky wrote:
I occasionally have to do some banking while on the road and was wondering.

Keep doing your banking. You'll be fine.

Chuck_thehammer wrote:
be more concerned with the "MASS" hacking.. like credit companies.. major banking... major Stores.

^ this is the real threat.

[wa8yxm]

First nothing on the internet is 100% secure. there are always to "Hack it" but the common Wi-Fi Sniffer can not hack a wire.. Only a radio.

So that is the MOST secure connection you can do.

[magicbus]

Ah, never saw it expressed this way before.

However your statement re: 32-bits for banking does beg the question why would you use that when their own chart says that is "weak"?

Password strength is determined with this chart, which might be a bit of a stretch for a non-critical password:

< 28 bits = Very Weak; might keep out family members
28 - 35 bits = Weak; should keep out most people, often good for desktop login passwords
36 - 59 bits = Reasonable; fairly secure passwords for network and company passwords
60 - 127 bits = Strong; can be good for guarding financial information
128+ bits = Very Strong; often overkill

[mike-s]

magicbus wrote:

Chuck_thehammer wrote:
verizon hotspot....

4 years full time.. not one issue. banking and all.. just use 16 bit or higher passwords.

I use 32 bit passwords for bank stuff.

be more concerned with the "MASS" hacking.. like credit companies.. major banking... major Stores.

:h
32-bit passwords? That's only 4 characters. I don't think any sites accept a 4 character password.

Dave

It takes 7 or 8 ASCII characters to get 32 bits of entropy. There's a calculator here.

[magicbus]

Chuck_thehammer wrote:
verizon hotspot....

4 years full time.. not one issue. banking and all.. just use 16 bit or higher passwords.

I use 32 bit passwords for bank stuff.

be more concerned with the "MASS" hacking.. like credit companies.. major banking... major Stores.

:h
32-bit passwords? That's only 4 characters. I don't think any sites accept a 4 character password.

Dave