Wireless Oakland Security

         Whenever you communicate over the Internet you need to ensure that your private communications and files are appropriately protected. If your transmissions are not secure, you take the risk of others intercepting files and records.

         How secure you want your Internet connection to be depends on how you use the Internet. If you are surfing to do research, email or watch movies, you may not care if anyone picks up part of your transmission, but that's up to you. If you are banking or purchasing items on the internet, those financial transactions are usually protected by a technology called Secure Socket Layer (SSL). SSL is commonly built into banking and commerce websites and encrypts information sent across the Internet. Click here for instructions on how to tell if a site you are using has SSL encryption.

         If your data is confidential or if you want additional levels of security, there are several technologies you might consider implementing. Remember this is a personal or business decision, and we encourage you to use at least some level of security to deter intrusion.

         In order to make Wireless Oakland easily accessible to a large number of WiFi enabled devices, the network is an open-access wireless network. Wireless Oakland's free internet connections are not encrypted from your computer to the access point in your neighborhood. This means your information could be intercepted in transit if it is not encrypted by a technology such as SSL. If you choose to upgrade, paid internet access will be encrypted and security provided from the wireless access device to the network.

         MichTel recommends that all users run a personal firewall or VPN so your information is secure from WiFi attacks. Please note attacks will not come from within the Wireless Oakland network as users will be firewalled from one another.

         For more information on how to secure your information while using the Internet you can review the following websites:

http://www.staysafeonline.org
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security