this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
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Not sure if I used the correct terms but what is the difference in security and privacy between downloading from a public wifi (or a closed wifi; with password) and mobile hotspot (sharing 4G/5G data from your phone to your computer)? Which one is recommended or does it not matter?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

most properly configured public wifi will enable client separation, of course that potentially still leaves lower level protocol and radio attacks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

I have no idea what this client separation is.

As far as I know there isn't really any client separation on wifi. It's a shared medium.

At least I don't see anything preventing you from reading someone else traffic. So anything unencrypted on a wifi is also accessible to any other clients.

I had tools more than 10 years ago that could automatically hijack session cookies on wifi for anybody connected and not using https.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (7 children)

no worries.

the net effect of client separation is that your device sees no other layer 2 devices on the wlan besides the gateway. this would typically be enforced at the frame level by the APs and is separate from any radio privacy cryptography.

a properly configured wireless setup would assume every client is compromised and would also disallow local client-client via source routing or proxy ARP or any other escape options. 100% secure? probably not, but its a non trivial barrier that would have to be circumvented.

as with e.g. broken WEP years ago, there are still options to mess with clients at ~Layer 1 but I dont believe its currently as trivial as it used to be.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Good explanation, a note that most public WiFi will use client separation. Macca's, starbucks, airplanes etc you will only ever see your device and the gateway. (More for other people that are reading, I assume you know this 😄)

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