Travel Technology - Beware of Southwest's inflight internet

http://seclists.org/risks/2012/q2/11
Halfway down the page, the post by John Pettitt


Apparently Southwest's inflight internet messed with the expiry info and also injected some javascript into the page.

Poor manners on Southwest's part.

Just connect over VPN or SSH tunnel, which is what one should do anyway when using an untrusted/third party connection.

Just connect over VPN or SSH tunnel, which is what one should do anyway when using an untrusted/third party connection.It might surprise you to learn the number of people who use computers every day and who have no idea what you're talking about nor, if they do, how to do that. :)

It might surprise you to learn the number of people who use computers every day and who have no idea what you're talking about nor, if they do, how to do that. :)

Yes, I know. :)

The advice holds, however.

Poor manners on Southwest's part.

Just connect over VPN or SSH tunnel, which is what one should do anyway when using an untrusted/third party connection.

This is assuming you have the option of doing so.

This is assuming you have the option of doing so.

Anyone has the option to do so, if you don't know what it is, just ask.

Southwest already is a major advertiser on NFL and Major League Baseball broadcasts and sponsors some professional baseball and basketball teams in markets it serves.

Poor manners on Southwest's part.

Just connect over VPN or SSH tunnel, which is what one should do anyway when using an untrusted/third party connection.

For folks that understand the issue, that's the solution. However, (as they point out), it was a customer-facing site, and I'd bet good money that most customers are not savvy enough to know about VPN/SSH tunnels, much less do anything about it.

Further, if it's anything like GoGo, the lag time is so bad that a VPN can be virtually unusable (part of the reason that I no longer use GoGo).

Anyone has the option to do so, if you don't know what it is, just ask.

Okay, I'm askin'...

What does it mean, and how do I do it, to protect myself when connecting to an untrusted/third party connection?

Start here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/1177101-vpn-explain-dummy.html?highlight=vpn

Then:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/1319095-vpn-euro-travel-galaxy-tab-7-wifi.html?highlight=vpn

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/1154733-looking-vpn-provider.html?highlight=vpn

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/948936-best-proxy-vpn-service-accessing-internet.html?highlight=vpn

I don't really know about Southwest's internet provider, but it is virtually impossible to use a VPN on a poor base internet connection, as most in-flight connections are.

Anyone has the option to do so, if you don't know what it is, just ask.

They require a trusted system on the other end to work with.

They require a trusted system on the other end to work with.

I use my home router.

I don't really know about Southwest's internet provider, but it is virtually impossible to use a VPN on a poor base internet connection, as most in-flight connections are.

Before GoGo got so bad, I was able to regularly make and hold VPN connections. Primarily SSL VPN, but also IPSec. When the ping times got above about 500 ms, the VPN was essentially useless.