Are the websites I visit using Windows Remote Desktop connection secure from my ISP?
I am ok if my ISP knows the IP address of the remote desktop I am connecting with but will they also be able to 'see' the websites I use or the documents I write on the remote desktop?
If so, what is the best way to ensure this information cannot be detected. Or suggestions on other ways to remote desktop?
I assume that you're only worried about the ISP of the computer you're physically sitting in front of as obviously the ISP of the server you're RDPing to "sees" everything you're doing from there.
The ISP on your client only sees a connection to you RDP-Server and he can easily find out that you're using RDP. However, since RDP is encrypted, it's very unlikely that any information about the specific contents of that connection can be found out.
However, if you're the only person using that RDP server, any request from that server that for whatever reason is routed through your ISP, can be linked to you. The more people who use that server at the same time, the "safer" everyone is.
In any case, I think you should consider using TOR which in principle does just that: Routing a lot of different people's requests over a lot of servers so that it's really, really hard to link a specific request to a specific source.
Well, the clue is in the name "Remote Desktop" ;-)
The answer depends on the security configuration of your Windows Remote Desktop, but basically its as secure as any encryption you have configured and the implementation of that encryption.
However you may wish to think about the security implications of leaving Windoes Remote Desktop exposed to the internet (very attractive target for hackers) and you could run a VPN and then connect to the Remote Desktop over the VPN.
As the old saying goes, the best security is like an onion, i.e. layered (so that a compromise of one - or a security bug - does not necessarily compromise the lot).
