I am a guest at the Hilton Hotel Cocoa beach, and they have free wifi. Is it safe to use it?

[Jim]

Hi, so I am a guest at the Hilton Hotel in Cocoa Beach, FL. and they have a free wifi, using iBAHN. So I heard that every password used in an unsecured network will register in the modem logs. So I want to check my bank account using online banking. Will my passwords and account # save or not ? Please no stupid answers and please explain why or why not.

[Tj]

It probably would, but the only person(s) who would have access to it are the administrators.

[RJ Goodhouse]

Just remember to label it as Public WiFi and it should be fine

[Hose]

it is safe as long as you sont access any private sites like facebook and twitter, for they will have access to every page you have been

[Repent]

The data packets can be sniffed and intercepted at any point between you and the site you are visiting.
Definitely so NOT enter passwords into any web sites with https: SSL (secrure sockets layer) sites.
iBAHN had a security breach in December 2011, so no one is totally secure. If you have a VPN connection,that would be safest.

[DunbarPappy®ϟϟ]

A few things to consider:
"Open" (no encryption) means ANYONE within 100' or so can 'sniff' your traffic.

High value sites commonly employ SSL connection, which means traffic would be encrypted right to and from your computer. (SSL has 'https' on the address prefix). So this type of traffic could not be seen by 'sniffing'...it's all just noise to them.

Conditional aspects to the above:
If you must 'agree' to the Terms and Conditions of the WiFi provider, make certain to understand if they will be issuing (from the router to your computer) a "Certificate". If yes, then the router can (may?) be doing any encryption when you connect to high value sites, and in theory your traffic can go to that> be decrypted> logged> re-encrypted> launched to the destination. That's very bad.

It's all dependent on how the WiFi is set up.
When you do connect to a hi value site, make sure to examine, before conducting any business, the pedigree of the Certificate and determine if it's from the site you are on; or if there is an interloper (that WiFi router) between you and the site. If that's the case, I would not trust any part of it...strictly casual browsing only.
If you've already agreed to any terms, check the Certificate and see what's up.

[Mark]

nope open source no protection . it is just a local free hopspot like any free service in a airport or a bookstore . better crank up your protection , why does everyone think the web is so safe or their dell