Thanks...so here's what I think it is.
I've done all the file Sharing, Firewall stuff and am transmitting at whatever frequency my computer uses. If I connect to an http:// site I have no "over the air" protection and a packet sniffer can receive the signal.
If I connect to an https:// site a password is required to read the "over the air" signal and the packet sniffer is out of luck.
ryck
Oh yes, and I also assume a packet sniffer isn't one of those airport dogs looking for contraband.
Yep.
WiFi is radio. When you connect to a WiFi network, the radio receiver and transmitter in your computer exchange data with the radio receiver and transmitter in the base station.
When you use a WEP or WPA password to access a WiFi base station, the radio signal is sending encrypted information; other people can receive the radio signal but they can't decode it or make sense of it without the password.
When you connect to a Web site using https:// then your computer and that Web site are sending information to each other encrypted. If you connect to a wireless WIFi base station with no password, the information going between your computer and the Web site is still encrypted. When you connect to a WiFi base station using a WEP or WPA password, the information going between your computer and the Web site are encrypted
twice (once by the radio link and once by the https:// protocol), so even a person who has the base station password still won't be able to decrypt and make sense of it.
A packet sniffer is nothing but a
program that shows you all the network traffic going on around you. When you are communicating with a WiFi base station, you're sending data over the air, and anyone who has a packet sniffer program can see everything that your computer is sending and receiving. But if it's encrypted, by using a WiFi password or by using https:// or both, they can't read it.
