network secure or not secure, can't tell, please help

happyhero

Hi I am currently staying in a caravan in a caravan park on holiday and they advertise that they provide wifi. It's hard to give you a definite idea but they are quite a big site with everything set up very professionaly, ie its not a "one man band" type thing.

Anyway I brought my laptop to use and first had a look at what happened when I turned my pc on and opened a browser. Basically I looked at available networks and the site one came up as an available but unsecure network, so I connected and got a sign in screen in the browser asking for username and password. I then paid for access and logged in, as registering for the amount of days I want was also shown on this screen.

I was worried about security as I would like to access many sites for personal things such as online banking, so I checked the FAQ offered on the caravan site log in screen. Basically it has a question about it saying it shows unsecure for this network and someone wants to do online banking, and the answer says this is normal and just to make sure you see the padlock on your banking site.

But is this safe enough?

So I am confused, if I am on an unsecure network but access sites with the padlock feature am I safe?

Why did they not make their site secure, surely it is easy enough and would make sense?

When I access my emails online I notice they are not a padlock site, can I change this to make it a padlock site (I use Sky email by the way)?

If I am not doing anything on the laptop can I leave it on, like for example if I am waiting for an email to come in, or am I more vunerable like this, or have they protected the network by having a log in or something, (I suspect not)?

I want to do some bits and peices on the net but I am worried about the security, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

totalsolutions

If you log in its secure in that only paid users can access wi-fi.
Wi-fi is not secure you are transmitting and recieving info that can be picked up but is normally encoded with WPA (or WEP). These transmissions can be stored but not readily decoded without the pass key.
Most web sites are not secured as is even MSE is not, any one can read it.
If you want to do banking then thats a "secured" site with more encyption you get the padlock and "s" on the end of the http(s).

You can be hacked by "a man in the middle" picking up any data and pretending to be you, but I doubt it.
Only a wired system is more secure. All data is going via there servers/router. User log in details are kept and site visited (of course like any ISP). Just be careful and Banks have policies to cover fraud anyway, don't worry to much and have a lovely holiday. Get out in that sun.

happyhero

Thanks totalsolutions, very helpful reply, so basicaly sounds ok to risk a little is way I see it. I am off out into the Cornish sun now, many thanks.

busenbust

Have a great hol!!