I am being monitored, passwords safe?

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shahbaz200

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I got username and password from university that I need to enter after connecting to Wifi networks. When I got login credentials I was informed that I am being monitored. University uses virtual private network within its campus. I know that websites that I visit will be monitored but what about passwords? Can they find out my passwords and other sensitive information? And is there anyway to hide websites that I visit, because login clearly tells who is using internet. Thanks.
 
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Pooneil

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At any site you visit that uses HTTPS for login, the credentials will be encrypted before leaving your computer. Most business sites use HTTPS login encryption now, but not all. So your concern needs to be focused on the particular sites you visit.

To hide the sites you visit from institutional snooping, use a VPN or the TOR browser. Both can be used for free, although with some significant limitations. It is a good idea to get acquainted with these kind of security measures anyway.



Not quite. It tells them whose credentials were used to log on to the wifi. Not who, specifically, is using the device. Credentials can be misplaced or appropriated.
 
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shahbaz200

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Oh I see so its well encrypted. Ok so VPN on VPN works. If I browse let say google admins will see it, If I open it in TOR or with VPN what they will see instead? And apps on phone, like uTorrent shouldn't reveal what I am downloading right? Same goes for Youtube?
 
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Pooneil

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All I can really say is that the proper use of a VPN or TOR will prevent your university from snooping on what web sites you are visiting. And I am certainly not the one to give advice on the expert use of VPNs or TOR. [strike]If your security concerns are so high that you are worried about Google monitoring you,[/strike] then you probably need to investigate the solutions outside a discussion about securing a wifi connection.

ETA: I think I misread the reply quoted above.

If you go to a site that uses HTTPS, as Google does, the university will know the IP of the site you are visiting but the content transmitted between the site your your device should be free from snooping. That is free from normal inspection methods used to safely and efficiently operate an ISP.

Only you can determine if all the sites you visit that of concern are using HTTPS. You might note that this forum does not use HTTPS.

Your university is very unlikely to be interested in what you search for on Google. If you have reason to believe they are snooping, you should probably look elsewhere for your ISP.
 
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The Paladin

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Universities only monitor illegal activities as per their "networking authorized uses" manual (i.e. piracy, porn etc) they don't care about your google account password.

When on a secured university network, they monitor a lot of things, who gets on, traffic to what destination (web pages used) what ports are being triggered on their networks, not because they are snooping on you , but because your activities can bring virus, attacks and cause general issues with their private network.

Yes they know what your doing, and if they so wish they can lock out your Mac address of your laptop wifi device to access any ports they do not wish you to, same goes with web sites, which means if they suspect something out of the ordinary, they wont chase you down the campus, they will deny services until you end up calling them asking why... and then problems start.

When you signs that form accepting the rules for usage of networking on the campus, did you even read a a word of it.. nope no one ever does, and on page 12 where you saw blah bla blah boring... they have nice little paragraphs about piracy, illegal streaming of video etc...

A free world of people spying on you.. ha.. those are your "my little pony dreams"

Your are a student in a multimillion dollar corporation that sell education to thousand of "bright minds" except they already hired the bright minds to think of all possibilities you are trying to find out.

 
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shahbaz200

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I was required to pay amount for internet they gave me no papers to sign or rules. It was verbal that you can't use Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter or any non educational site (who does that? :S). And just one SMS on my phone that I will be monitored. I hope using VPNs for Whatsapp wont make much problems and I will remain hidden. About getting my MAC address getting blocked, fortunately I know how to fake/change it on my phone. And I don't think there are great minds behind network security lol. My Computer practical teacher says i3 works with upto DDR3 RAM only, Doesn't knows about SSD, thinks price of RAM depends on capacity. But still can't be sure of same with network administrators. And I like what you said, they won't chase me down but stop my internet access.
 
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The Paladin

The Paladin

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assuming that the teacher that is told to teach you a curriculum is relevant to the quality, security and abilities of the IT staff managing it would be a very big mistake, as for it was verbal and cannot use sites that are non educational, it means when you go to an unregistered web site it triggers and alarm, someone looks at it (Facebook is an example) and decide to block it or not. they will just prevent/filter the network to acquire that web site after they pass judgement, they will not even talk to you about it, one day you go to a piracy video site next day it no longer works from the university network. for anyone...

I deal with a lot of major universities in the United States of America, and I can tell you shenanigans are always cut short. could be different in your country.. but eh...
 
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shahbaz200

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Hey thanks my problem solved but one general confusion.
So a website being used that does not uses HTTP wont be detected by network admins? Is that what you meant?
 
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bill001g

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This is a old thread and I am not going to read the whole chain. HTTPS makes is harder for someone in the path to intercept data. HTTP is sent in the clear. A network admin can see all the traffic passing though any equipment he controls. With HTTP he can see all the data since it is not encrpted. With HTTPS in theory at least he can not see anything other than the site you are going to. BUT you tell a lot about what type of traffic is being passed just by the packet sizes and the rates they are sent. It won't give details but for example china can use it to detect someone running what they think is a VPN inside of a https session. They may not be 100% sure but they can block it just in case.

Now there is a way to intercept even HTTPS traffic but it requires the end user to ignore warning messages or the end user pc to be configured to not display them.
 
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