general network question - is file transfer secure?

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Guest

Since I don't have a Net connection at home, I usually take my laptop to the
university library, hook it up to one of the Lan ports, and use their
extrmely fast T1 (I think) Internet connection. My only concern is that I'm
always downloading confidential files to my laptop that I don't want anyone
else to see.
Is it possible for anyone (Network admin., other users, university staff,
etc...) to view the files that I've downloaded to my PC through this
connection?
Can anyone see those files if I download them from Yahoo, ICQ, or some other
similar service?

Thanks,
A
 
Since I don't have a Net connection at home, I usually take my
laptop to the university library, hook it up to one of the Lan
ports, and use their extrmely fast T1 (I think) Internet
connection. My only concern is that I'm always downloading
confidential files to my laptop that I don't want anyone else to
see. Is it possible for anyone (Network admin., other users,
university staff, etc...) to view the files that I've downloaded
to my PC through this connection?
Click to expand...

The network staff can certainly capture all packet traffic. It is
trivial to isolate the packets for a single connection. From that it
would be possible to reconstruct the file being transferred
Can anyone see those files if I download them from Yahoo, ICQ, or
some other similar service?
Click to expand...

To download from Yahoo, ICQ, etc., you have to be able to connect to
that service. Whoever provides that connection has an opportunity to
examine packets on their network.

If you need confidentiality, you need encryption and make sure the
files are encrypted while in transit.

Guy
 
No. It's not secure unless the data is encrypted. The source of these files would need to support some type of data encryption
though. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. It would be best to contact the source of these files to find out what
security methods they offer.

Thank you,
Mike Johnston
Microsoft Network Support
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Thanks for your info.
But would it be difficult to reconstruct the package?
Is it similar to a normal directory where the network staff can go to a
folder and, for example, see that a file is called Financials.xls and it
came from a bank website? Or would it be more difficult than that?
These don't have to be encrypted, but they shouldn't be easily accessible
either.

AA
 
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