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Say, I am using someone else's Wi-Fi. I want to know what all information about my internet usage can be found out by someone who has access to the router or by someone who's also connected to the same Wi-Fi (through MITM or something).

There's a lot of possibilities that I don't understand how they might affect what all the router or a malicious user on the same WLAN can find out about my traffic.

In terms of what all could be known about my internet usage:

  • Does it make a difference if the Wi-Fi is password protected?
  • What if when I'm using HTTPS vs HTTP?
  • What if I use a proxy/VPN?
  • What if I use Tor?

In these situations, what all can the router know about my connections? What all can someone else on the same network know about my connections?

MrRobot
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  • that question answers most of yours. In short, someone else on you wifi can steal and alter your data. Password protection doesn't matter to someone who would otherwise have the key. Proxies are only good for anonimity towards the sites you're visiting. HTTPS can be broken (sslstrip2). VPN and TOR are your best bet. – J.A.K. Mar 01 '17 at 18:48

2 Answers2

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Any data that isn't encrypted will be visible and modifiable. For each of your scenarios:

  • If the Wi-Fi is password protected, it doesn't affect the router's ability to snoop, but it makes it slightly more difficult (but still entirely practical) for other wireless clients to snoop.
  • If you're using HTTPS, the site you're visiting will be visible, but the page on the site and any data you're sending to it won't be.
  • If you're sending all of your traffic through a VPN/proxy/Tor, nothing at all will be visible except your connection to the VPN/proxy/Tor server.
Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica
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Great question. I'll try to keep this simple. WiFi is similar to being in a room where everyone connected to the same WiFi can hear everything any other people are saying, however there are ways to encrypt conversations so that all they would hear would be unintelligible.

In general:

  • WiFi password encrypts nothing
  • HTTPS encrypts your browser's tab that displays HTTPS
  • TOR encrypts all browser tabs (in the tor browser)
  • VPN encrypts all information leaving your computer
MikeSchem
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