Environment: My private notebook is connected to a public Wi-Fi network with Internet access (at in Airport, Internet cafe etc.). When I check my Hotmail account, bank account etc, it isn't secure. Question: If now (from a public Wi-Fi network) I connect to my organization internal network (LAN) remotely using Corporate Employee Remote Access Application (VPN) with USB ActivKey, can anyone (at in Airport, Internet cafe etc.) see my data: Hotmail account, bank account? Is it important which browser I use: Internet Explorer that was installed on my notebook OR Internet Explorer that was installed on my work PC (I connect to my work PC using Remote Desktop) From Privacy & Security points of view, when I activate VPN connection in public Wi-Fi, is it important which Internet sites I connect to: a) Corporate Intranet HTTP (non HTTPS) website http://www.mycorporate.com; b) Internet site http://www.hotmail.com c) I connect to my work PC (within my Corporate LAN) using Remote Desktop and access Internet sitehttp://www.hotmail.com from Internet Explorer on my Remote Desktop

Please see also http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7security/thread/a5c052ec-d27a-463d-bc29-58d4f369355b for additional information/questions. Thanks

Hi, Thank you for your post at Technet forum. Question: If now (from a public Wi-Fi network) I connect to my organization internal network (LAN) remotely using Corporate Employee Remote Access Application (VPN) with USB ActivKey, can anyone (at in Airport, Internet cafe etc.) see my data: Hotmail account, bank account? · Is it important which browser I use: Internet Explorer that was installed on my notebook OR Internet Explorer that was installed on my work PC (I connect to my work PC using Remote Desktop) To answer your question in short, no one can see your date nor the admin of public Wi-Fi network. The internet access is protected from the spoof/sniffer when you establish the VPN connection to the Corporate with "use default gateway on remote network" options checked in the VPN Properties. (It is the default setting when you create a new VPN connection) With the option selected, all traffic no matter where it heads to will be routed to the VPN server in the Corporate. If the destination is a server on the internet, the VPN server will route it to internet and works like a "proxy" for VPN clients. No, it doesn't depend on the browser. Remote Access VPN Connections http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc958048.aspx One thing to add in case you miss it: What VPN protocol do you configure on the VPN server? Please be aware of that some public Wi-Fi networks have some kind of restriction which doesn't allow outgoing PPTP and L2TP traffic. If you have Windows Server 2008 RRAS server (Cisco SSTP capable VPN server), you may deploy a SSTP VPN server which counts on the SSL port 443 that will not be restricted in almost all environment.

Hi Miles Li, Thanks very much for your reply. Please note that I am a user, not IT admin. I just want to know that my Web traffic is secure. My questions: 1. Your link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc958048.aspx relevant to Windows Server 2000. Do you have such links for Windows Server 2003 and 2008? 2. Is VPN Server always Windows Server? 3. You asked: "What VPN protocol do you configure on the VPN server?" Can I (as user, not IT Admin and I don't want to ask it) know what VPN Server and what security/VPN protocol my organization use? Is it important to know, if I just want to be sure that my connection is secure? Thanks