My computer keeps warning me my university's computer network isn't secure. Should I worry?

I work at a university, and every time I log on to the school’s network - whether their library, or student information, or school email, or their local wifi network - I’m warned that it’s not secure. In Safari on my home computer I get a bright red “Not secure” at the top of the screen; on my iPad with wifi I’m warned that all traffic can be viewed.

So, surprise surprise, shoddy internet security in Taiwan. And I can’t do anything to change this. But - how much do I need to worry? Is there anything I should be careful with for my own behavior online? I suppose an extreme option would be to only access the university system from my office computer, which I don’t keep linked to my home computer. I hope that would be overkill, because it makes downloading academic articles much more of a hassle. Or I could do nothing. Or I presume there’s something in the middle I should do.

TLDR: network I need to use has crap security. Should I care?

Porn should be viewed strictly in the comfort of ones own private residence.

Is it lack of https? Seen this quite often with Taiwan websites even govt ones.

Sometimes there’s https at the top, sometimes there’s no http at all. If there’s no http, can I assume it’s not https?

If there is no https then it’s less secure, that’s all I know.

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All. The. Time.

:doh: :grandpa: :wall: :runaway: :tumble: :roll: :idunno:

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If you’re worried then, I suggest getting a VPN. If those are public computers, then you might have to install the software every time you use it and then uninstall it.

Older operating systems have this problem, I used to run and old Mac which because Apple decided to change to a new CPU would no longer support updates, which by extension meant Ap’s like internet browsers couldn’t do updates and I would see this message all the time.

The fix, should be latest software and hardware, but I’m guessing at a university they probably still have some computers running on Windows 95.

But yes, the short answer Brian gives is correct, https is the cause.

Thanks all - yeah, I’m assuming the problem is old software and lack of updates. But my main concern is if I should worry much about it, and how/if I should adjust my own behavior accordingly.

My operating assumption is, if I’ve got my iPad on the school wifi network, use no passwords that I care about - no banking, etc. Just stick to the school systems. But I’m not sure if that’s secure enough - does using the network for a few hours open me up to vulnerabilities at other times, when I’m back on my home wifi?

And for my home computer, basically the same thing. If I’m on an insecure connection to the school systems, just how vulnerable am I? I know how to set up a VPN, but I don’t have one currently, and I don’t want to put in the effort if it’s not really necessary.

For what it’s worth, my own systems are all Apple, MacOS or iOS, latest updates and all that. My office computer is Windows, not sure what vintage. All the classroom computers are also Windows, and I absolutely do not enter any important passwords on those (and I cringe when I see students entering their Google or whatever ID onto those systems!).

All depends on your level of paranoia. I have one computer (the one I do most work on) that is air gaped i.e. It never connects to the internet, ever.

What you seem to be concerned about is the probability of a virus spreading though your wifi connection. The same question was asked here.

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I thought the problem with govt sites was not getting their security certificates straightened out, causing warnings like “the certificate has not been verified” or “the name on the certificate does not match the site”.

But do you plug read/write USB’s (etc.) into it that have been and later will again be plugged into a non-airtight device?

I do, this is obviously a weak spot, but I have another laptop which is only ever used for communications to the company I work for. Both computers were supplied by them with strict instructions on what they can and can’t be used for. Both have up to date software and I will make a caveat on the air gaped computer which is it does connect to the internet when done my the IT of their staff, behind their firewall.