Keeping data secure in shared housing on same network

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ocmyers

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Jan 9, 2015
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Hi all,

I am sharing a house with 6 people that I do not know well (4 of whom are computing pro's) and I don't quite feel at ease using my computer at home. I am probably being a little paranoid but I feel as though they may be snooping on what I am up to. They make jokes from time to time that give me the impression they might be (they are a little odd) but either way I would have no idea if they really are up to anything. We just have (what I would consider) an average household network set up and are all connected to the same one.

I have done some reading about using VPN's and this seems like it may be a good option but I am confused about whether this would make my own computer and personal data secure or whether it would just secure our entire home network but make no difference to my personal situation?

I hope someone might be able to advise me on ways to protect myself. Thanks in advance for any tips!
 
Solution
kanewolf
A VPN is a point to point network. You need to start it either on your computer or as @Alabalcho said your own router. The connection would go to an end point which would then send your traffic out to the rest of the internet. Most people purchase a subscription to a VPN provider to create the far end point. There may be free alternatives but you have to question how they can continue business without subscription fees.
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ocmyers

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Jan 9, 2015
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I don't think they are trying to read my emails necessarily. To be honest I have no idea. One of them asked me if I enjoyed a film that I'd watched a few nights ago when he wasn't home and when I asked how he knew I'd watched it he kind of started talking rubbish and changed the subject! There have just been a fair few instances like this and something seems off. My room is locked in the day and I know they aren't physically accessing my computer. I just wonder if they are logging our internet traffic and looking through it?
 
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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It is possible they are capturing network traffic. A VPN would prevent that because all traffic leaving your computer would be encrypted. A VPN would also encrypt the DNS traffic which lets them know which websites were visited. HTTPS can encrypt traffic once a connection to a site is made, but the DNS traffic is still in the open.
 
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Alabalcho

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Jan 13, 2011
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If you have several devices and share data between them over the network, your own router with VPN client would solve most of your problems.

You should also assess the physical security of your computer(s) - whether your data is secure when you are not home. It would be relaitveky easy for a pro to get access to the data on your laptop / desktop by simply taking the disk out.
 
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ocmyers

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So to do that can I create my own VPN or do I need to connect to an external one located somewhere else? Thanks for your reply
 
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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A VPN is a point to point network. You need to start it either on your computer or as @Alabalcho said your own router. The connection would go to an end point which would then send your traffic out to the rest of the internet. Most people purchase a subscription to a VPN provider to create the far end point. There may be free alternatives but you have to question how they can continue business without subscription fees.
 
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ocmyers

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Jan 9, 2015
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With regards to the router, could I buy myself one and still be using the same home network as them? I possibly have a spare router at my parents' place. How would I go about making this secure? Do you mean that my VPN could have my computer as one point and my router as the other? So sorry for all the questions, I'm not too clued up on this. I have tried to find walk through's online but they all seem so similar but doing slightly different things. Very confusing. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
 
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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If you have a router that can be a VPN endpoint (not all of them can) then you can connect all your devices to your router an it will "magically" route all your traffic through the VPN. Otherwise you will have to install software on your PC and start the VPN on your computer. Either way the far endpoint is somewhere on the internet that will then route your traffic to the rest of the world.
 
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