Encrypted network traffic?

[Joni Nitro]

I have been reading a lot lately about network security and just how easy it is for people access information. With all of the devices at my house that are networked I feel I need to step up my security. I have your typical dual band wifi/wired network with WPA2-PSK enabled for both wireless networks.

I guess I am not that worried about somebody hacking into my computers and accesing my files too much, but maybe I should be. I am more concerned about those that monitor my internet activity or could potentially get my personal info by monitoring traffic.

Is a proxy server the way to go for this? I basically dont want people knowing what I do on the internet. I dont care if my wife is only watching kitten videos on youtube, I dont think it is anyone's business. I also dont know if I trust a 3rd party to do this for me either. Whats to stop them from selling info behind my back or the government from seizing their computers if they are doing something illegal.

 

[Volcanon]

This is certainly a problem that's vexed privacy advocates and internet engineers for a while.

The internet isn't really build to be very secretive.

Yes a proxy service could mask your identity, but most proxies don't do encryption so your traffic is still traversing the internet unencrypted (unless you're visiting a website that encrypts its data)

Your ISP will almost always be able to tell what you're doing unless you've got some type of end to end encryption going on.

In the end I think you're being too paranoid. If you want to hide what you're doing, make sure that your PC doesn't store any history data and make sure to use HTTPS service whenever possible. That's about the most that's reasonable, unless you're doing highly sensitive work.