I just moved into university housing (dorm) for the first time, and the ethernet that is wired into the rooms is insanely fast (compared to anything that I have previously used anyway). I am loving this internet access. The only issue is that I am concerned about security. I don't really want anyone to be able to watch, or track waht I am doing online, or to be able to utilize the network to make some sort of attack against my computer.
What do you guys know about this, and what do you suggest to do in order to maintain my privacy and security.
P.s. There is no required log in to get access to the internet here. You can literally just walk up and have access to the wifi, and the ethernet in the rooms is plug and go. That is a plus as far as tracking goes, but increases my concerns about security.
P.p.s. I was not sure where to post this, so, mods, feel free to move it to where you see as appropriate.
I'm curious as well. I'm building a desktop right now to vpn to when I'm out and about at class so that I don't have to carry all my information around with me on my laptop, or use wifi with sensative information. Since that's the case it'd be nice to know that my desktop in my dorm is safe.
The only way to intercept ethernet traffic is though a device so unless someone puts a device on the cable(tearing up the wall in the process or finding the switch) your safe, as for an open wifi traffic its is very easy to capture any data off that. If you have a desktop pluged into the ethernet jack the connection is safe unless your university monitors traffic (alot do mostly for bandwith reasons). So if you want to protect your data from the university you'll need to use a vpn.
Solution: firewalld profiles, configure the network for "public" or "block" and raise shields. Make sure that no ports are open. Firewalld is application sensitive, it will know whether data traffic comes from an application that you are running on your PC or not, and it will block what isn't your data traffic.
Every service that uses SSL or any encryption is off the radar (or would require enormous effort to man-in-the-middle it). Every other service that doesnt have that is indeed perfectly spoofable, and thus, readable.
It depends on what service you are using to feel safe or not.