[cyberhusky]

We are planning an extended cruise and will need to pay bills online at our bank's site. Is it dangeous to do this using Wi-Fi with my MacBook? Are there precautions I can take to do this safely? Any other suggestions?

Hi

If I do online banking at home I'm connected via ethernet cable.
Only once I did pay bills via WIFI with no problems.

If I'm sailing I'm online via my mobile phone as bank transfers only needs some data to transfer.
Though mobile phone internet is expensive.

OTOH if you do have Wifi access in harbours, I would go for it, if it is secured.
Actual decrypting methods can crack WIFI settings in less than 1 hour, but for that the hacker needs to be near enough (less than 200 meters)
which isn't so much the case in habours!

Second you won't be online for more than some minutes for doing online banking so cracking Wifi won't be easy.

For doing online banking check these issues:

• * try to have Wifi access via encrypted known systems, often these cost some Euros/$ per hour, never use open Wifi systems you don't know or trust for online banking
  * use firefox browser for online banking (at the moment the most secure and the latest version (beta) has phishing protection)
  * if possible really use complicated password longer than 8 letters and mixed with small and capitalized letters, numbers and symbols!
  (never use real names, pet names, birthday wedding dates etc. these are cracked within minutes)
  * that the site has HTTPS (secure internet) and the lock in your internet browser is closed
  * the bank sends each time you do connect, a cerficate which you can check inside your browser
  * don't save login data and passwords in your browser or computer
  * if you check the certificated homepage send by your bank, you can often see if the homepage isn't a phishing trick
  * phishing homepages often do have errors (language) on their homepages, because they are often programmed in foreign countries
  * NO bank will ever ask your login data, neither loginname nor password via email
  *even if you lose your data, the bank will only send it via normal postal letter, with the password hidden under special ink.
  * try to have a second online bank account on which you only put the money needed for your transfers plus taxes etc. this way if it should be cracked (which is really very rarely the case), not all your money will be stolen
  
  [/list:u]
  
  Perhaps this sound to be too secure or Online banking is too dangerous, but I do all my bill payments via online banking over just the same bank. Until now not one problem occured.
  
  Ond don't forget your are using a Mac, many special crack software only runs if the other system is Windows based!
  
  Regards,
  
  Manou