How secure is the ship internet?

[kywildcatfanone]

I wouldn't do anything too personal without a VPN.

[richmke]

16 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

The one issue I had using a VPN last spring was that you can't just go to logout.com to logout. You have to disconnect form teh VPN to do that. 

 

That is because the VPN is trying to lookup the "logout.com" domain name. Once you disconnect from the VPN, you are back to Princess's DNS server. It redirects "logout.com" to their server to log you out.

 

Note: In theory you could have a similar problem if you name your own DNS servers, and not the default ones of the connection. Not likely, unless you know what you are doing. In that instance, you know what to do.

[mnocket]

On 7/21/2019 at 10:56 PM, steelers36 said:

Are we really THAT much safer at home? 

 

Not in my opinion.  When using the internet you face 1,000's of potential security risks.  When using a public network you become more vulnerable to several network related threats.  So, net-net just how much more vulnerable are you?  I really can't say for sure, but my OPINION is your chance of being compromised on board a ship is only slightly higher than at home.  That said, the use of a  VPN while on a public network represents best practice.  

[CruiseVA]

4 hours ago, richmke said:

 

That is because the VPN is trying to lookup the "logout.com" domain name. Once you disconnect from the VPN, you are back to Princess's DNS server. It redirects "logout.com" to their server to log you out.

 

Note: In theory you could have a similar problem if you name your own DNS servers, and not the default ones of the connection. Not likely, unless you know what you are doing. In that instance, you know what to do.

Exactly, I use Google Fi which routes you thru their VPN for everything, I had forgotten about that, as soon as I remembered I quickly disabled that.

As for DNS servers, when I'm home I override the one my ISP provides, but that's on my Linux desktop 🙂

[Ombud]

About as secure as leaving your debit card with pin in any public place 

 

Put everything on auto pay (inc cc minimum payment if you don't want to schedule it to pay in full on due date) and forget it

[mnocket]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

About as secure as leaving your debit card with pin in any public place 

 

Put everything on auto pay (inc cc minimum payment if you don't want to schedule it to pay in full on due date) and forget it

Sorry, but comments like this just stir up irrational fear.  Yes for any number of reasons it's best to set up auto pay, but the increased risk of using the ship's internet rather than your home's is absolutely nothing like leaving your credit card and PIN in a public place. You're probably a 1,000 times more likely to open an email attachment at home with a virus than you are to experience any sort of problem due to the increased risk associated with using the ship's public internet.

[Ombud]

I love autopay and have been doing it for years. Why not? 

 

And you'll never convince me that using public internet is safe. VPN is safe 

[CruiseVA]

My local bank assigned me one of these years ago, pretty hard to hack into that account. 🙂 Sorry - off-topic.

[mnocket]

9 minutes ago, CruiseVA said:

My local bank assigned me one of these years ago, pretty hard to hack into that account. 🙂 Sorry - off-topic.

Right you are.  Two factor authentication is up there among the best logon protections there are.

[Thrak]

At the moment my public IP is 45.56.152.91 which is in Hong Kong. I just realized I had forgotten to change it from where it was set the other day. When I wanted to watch those dorky Princess TV shows on ITV I simply changed to a London IP and it worked fine.

[Lucky TGO]

On 7/21/2019 at 5:00 PM, Colo Cruiser said:

And I quoted "NOT SECURE".

I totally agree with you. 

Tony

[Lindaru]

I believe hotel wi-fi is probably much less secure than being on the ship; however, I do not do anything with sensitive information or have sensitive information available when we travel.  Bill pay is done far enough in advance that I get the confirmations of payment before we leave and then I delete those confirmations.

 

[kruisey]

On 7/21/2019 at 7:20 AM, Coral said:

Not secure.

 

I use a SSL VPN.

I have now got VPN on laptop and smart phone .My local provider has just got it added to their packages.

Thank you .I am so ignorant I did not know anything about VPN till you mentioned and I looked up on the web.

Thank you everyone  you have all been most helpful....Heather😊.

[Coral]

On 7/23/2019 at 5:13 PM, CruiseVA said:

My local bank assigned me one of these years ago, pretty hard to hack into that account. 🙂 Sorry - off-topic.

Though can you get it to work on a ship? 

[vicd1969]

Well, on certain Princess non-Medallion ships, it is very secure because not even the hackers can log into the internet 😛

[Go-Bucks!]

On 7/21/2019 at 7:11 PM, riffatsea said:

I would never do banking on any public network!

 

If you were on a 6 month long cruise like I've been then you would. All my bills are on auto pay, but I've had to make some online purchases, pay a doctor and transfer some money. So far all is well.

[CruiseVA]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

Though can you get it to work on a ship? 

It works anywhere you have internet access, it doesn't talk to anything, just shows me a number - it has a 'clock' so the number it generates always matches the one my bank uses.

Edited July 25, 2019 by CruiseVA

[CruiseVA]

3 hours ago, kruisey said:

I have now got VPN on laptop and smart phone .My local provider has just got it added to their packages.

Thank you .I am so ignorant I did not know anything about VPN till you mentioned and I looked up on the web.

Thank you everyone  you have all been most helpful....Heather😊.

Just make sure you know how to turn it off when you want to 'logout' of the ships internet 🙂

 

[kruisey]

3 minutes ago, CruiseVA said:

Just make sure you know how to turn it off when you want to 'logout' of the ships internet 🙂

 

Why I was not told one should do that?

[Coral]

20 minutes ago, CruiseVA said:

It works anywhere you have internet access, it doesn't talk to anything, just shows me a number - it has a 'clock' so the number it generates always matches the one my bank uses.

One of my jobs about 20 years ago gave me a credit card looking device which served the same point - I had to refer to the credit card for a number it would generate. I just never used it on a ship and thinking outloud - I didn't know how well it would work on a ship's internet. I am sure they have changed quite a bit in 20 years!

[Credit 00]

Is this what modern day pirates are doing? Instead of boarding the ship they are just trailing and hacking our accounts. In any case Maritime internet is not exactly secure and it is also not exactly that fast, you have more of a chance of getting booted off the network then being hacked by anyone on board. I would suggest doing your banking before leaving home based on the reliability of the network as opposed to security concerns.

[Coral]

28 minutes ago, Credit 00 said:

Is this what modern day pirates are doing? Instead of boarding the ship they are just trailing and hacking our accounts. In any case Maritime internet is not exactly secure and it is also not exactly that fast, you have more of a chance of getting booted off the network then being hacked by anyone on board. I would suggest doing your banking before leaving home based on the reliability of the network as opposed to security concerns.

Some lines have decent internet. Princess has just been behind in the times when it comes to internet. Hopefully they are finally catching up.

 

On the longer cruises that I have been on, I do have to pay bills online. If you only do 1 week cruises, it is not a big deal.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Coral

[Credit 00]

16 minutes ago, Coral said:

Some lines have decent internet. Princess has just been behind in the times when it comes to internet. Hopefully they are finally catching up.

 

On the longer cruises that I have been on, I do have to pay bills online. If you only do 1 week cruises, it is not a big deal.

 

Good point you have there as I've been in the same situation, it's amazing how much of your internet time is taken up with just logging in. A solution for me is using the free wifi on those Hop on Hop off buses in most countries, hardly ideal but it's possible.

[jangor]

My longest cruise has been 20 days.  I prepaid all bills before leaving home.  My husband made one phone call in a US port to check on a stock we had been watching and then sat back and relaxed.  All other financial transactions could wait until we returned home.

 

[mcrcruiser]

We will never ever use a cruise lines internet  .We can wait until we get home with ll bills paid in advance