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How secure is https?

  • 30-06-2007 1:38pm
    #1
    Random
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭


    How secure is https? It encrypts the traffic between your PC and the server? Does this mean that if you're on a public wifi network or something that people won't be able to read your data? Even if they're the administrator of the wireless router or whatever?

    I'm going away in the summer and I'm a paranoid person who'd like to be able to rely on Wifi on my XDA Exec to check my online banking.


Comments

  • #2
    aidan_walsh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,208 ✭✭✭✭aidan_walsh


    The data is encrypted on your machine and decrypted on the server. While in theory someone could sniff the packets and decrypt them later, the strength of the encryption generally used means that this would take a long time, far longer than it would be worth.


  • #3
    leeroybrown
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,563 ✭✭✭leeroybrown


    HTTPS gives you an SSL encrypted connection between the client (your web browser) and the server (the web server software). As aidan_walsh points out the encrypted data can be sniffed but 128-bit SSL used for HTTPS is cryptographically strong enough that it won't be possible for a thief to decrypt it.

    So long as your XDA is secure and up to date then using it to check your online banking over wifi is the smart thing to do as you have a much higher guarantee that it hasn't been compromised compared to a random web-cafe PC.


  • #4
    Random
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭Random


    So my only concern would be that if the guy running the internet cafe or hostel is dodgy that he could (in theory, I'm being paranoid now) setup the hosts file on the router to send me somewhere else for www.aib.ie ?


  • #5
    misterq
    Closed Accounts Posts: 382 ✭✭misterq


    yes, thats always possible.
    If you are that paranoid, you could

    a) Set the hosts file on your machine to point to the correct IP
    or
    b) Use a DNS provider like opendns (assuming you trust them)

    Or you could just chill and not assume that everyone is out to get you.

    Big mistake though. They are.

    In fact the suggestions I gave above are tailored so that I can get access to your bank account.:D


  • #6
    AndrewMc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 354 ✭✭AndrewMc


    ciaranfo wrote:
    So my only concern would be that if the guy running the internet cafe or hostel is dodgy that he could (in theory, I'm being paranoid now) setup the hosts file on the router to send me somewhere else for www.aib.ie ?

    This is why SSL certificates are signed by a "Certificate Authority" (CA), who is supposed to verify the authenticity of the company's certificate before signing. Your browser checks that the SSL cert corresponds to the site you're visiting and that it is signed by one of a built-in list of CAs, and will complain if it isn't.


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