PCWorld - BizFeed: How to Browse Privately on Public Wi-Fi for Free

By Keir Thomas
Mar 2, 2011

If you're a mobile worker who likes to go online using public Wi-Fi services--in coffee shops and elsewhere--you probably don't realize how insanely reckless you're being.

Public Wi-Fi is the worst kind of Internet connection. Data isn't encrypted as it flies through the air; and as the recent Firesheep debacle showed, it's incredibly easy for others using the same network to grab your log-in details for sites such as Facebook.

One method of protecting yourself is to use a browser extension such as HTTPS Everywhere, which forces your browser to connect by default to a site's secure HTTPS server. Unfortunately, very few sites have one. Alternatively, you can pay for VPN services, but these can be quite slow.

In this tutorial, I'll explain how to create a secure setup that will stop anybody from snooping on your Wi-Fi-transmitted data, regardless of the type of Internet connection you use. It won't cost a penny, either, because we'll be using entirely free-of-charge software--though you will need an old PC to act as a server, and your Internet router must be able to work with a dynamic DNS service. (Most can--and even if yours can't, a firmware update might be able to give it that the functionality.)

The technique I'll use involves creating a secure shell (SSH) server on the old computer at home or work, and then doing all of your Web browsing through that server via an encrypted tunnel across the Internet.

It's not a perfect solution because DNS look-ups occur via the public Wi-Fi connection, so somebody could theoretically find out what sites you've been visiting, but this result is unlikely.

The instructions cover four stages, the first three of which explain how to set everything up.

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