Staying safe at Starbucks at other public WiFi

I'm new to taking security measures to ensure the safety of my data and my work on my computer. I'm a student in college and I study a lot at Starbucks and in school libraries where there is public wifi. Just from reading some of the posts I know i should be doing more in terms of security but I"m not sure what to do and where to start.

How do i stay safe from using bittorrent or uTorrent over a public wifi? Believe it or not I'm not torrenting music or movies but mostly PDF's of books and documents that I need for research and references that are either 1) extremely hard to find and out of print 2) unavailable for purchase from Amazon.

I'm using a Macbook Pro. What steps do I need to take and what programs do I need to install for OS X?
I read that MADMAC is a good program but that's for Windows based computers. Also should I be using Tor? I have a mac computer.

 

http://hackerreturns.blogspot.com/2013/05/spoof-mac-address-in-any-os.html

How to Change MAC Address in Mac OS X
Since Mac OS X 10.4.x (Darwin 8.x) onwards, the MAC address of wired Ethernet interface can be altered in Apple Mac OS X in a fashion similar to the Linux and FreeBSD methods. To do so, type the following command in Terminal.app:
sudo ifconfig en0 ether aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
or
sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff (for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard)
where en0 is the network interface (numbered from en0, en1, en2 …) and aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff is the desired MAC address in hex notation.
Alternative: MacDaddy (download MacDaddyX.dmg, support Airport wireless adapter)

via Digitalife

Read more: http://hackerreturns.blogspot.com/2013/05/spoof-mac-address-in-any-os.html#ixzz2h5DAf1dv

 

You only need a VPN, if your just using it for school work CyberGhost VPN / SecurityKISS VPN will do you find and keep all your data safe.

 

I tried to download MacDaddy but it's a super old program from 2007 and there has not been an update or new release in 5-6 years. I'm looking into other alternatives and I've found a program called AirPort Clown. -http://funkensturm.de/2010/01/22/airportclown-simple-mac-address-spoof-for-snow-leopard/-

Has anyone heard of this program or have anyone had good experiences with this program? Any other suggestions?

 

Have you tried the CMD line.

 

I have not tried the CMD line but I'm not super comfortable with the command line. But I"ll give it a try.

Do I simply type "sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff" like the posts suggests or do I have to change the hexadecimal code? It says this method is for Snow Leopard. Does this method still apply for OS X?

In case I encounter problems, how do I change it back to my default MAC address? Is it simply a case of restarting my computer like I've read in osme articles about this topic?

 

maybe buy a cheap, used, disposable netbook with cash and don't use it for anything else.

 

The Fu**.... He is a student worried about privacy, not Al-Qaeda.

 

@BigRyan,

maybe check out the tips in this link...

-http://lifehacker.com/5576927/how-to-stay-safe-on-public-wi+fi-networks

...some of them are already suggested earlier.

In my own case, I'm quite content with enabling a built-in firewall, file sharing disabled, no sensitive/valuable data kept on the laptop, and I'd refrain from online banking at public wifi locations, even though it's done over ssl connections.

 

hmm, i thought he was worried about getting caught torrenting. maybe not??

 

Dude

It does not take having a "burn" computer to discard every time your worried someone will find out you torrent. He is not gonna torrent government secrets, just school stuff. He needs a free/pay VPN and that's all. Nothing less, nothing more.

 

well, that's what i would do. $100 to $150 well spent imo.

 

Congratulations on wasting your money. I have been using torrent for 10 years and never have had any problems, using just proxies or VPN's. Your advice is stupid for two reasons. He is a student and probably does not have $100 to $150 to waste, secondly from his post he is only going to be using torrent for school resources. I don't know if you are crazy or unrealistic, but dude.... wtf.

 

one of the funniest posts i've read on wilders forum lately, talis.

 

Use a good Firewall.

Littlesnitch is a good Mac-OSX firewall, highly configurable.

Also, use a VPN.

DNS, change your DNS to comodo DNS for security, or openvpn dns.