Your Security

Security is taken seriously by NETSe7en and protective measures are in place to make sure you receive a safe, reliable and robust service.

Your Laptop/PDA's Security

We suggest you install robust and updateable anti-virus software and a personal firewall. Please also:

  • turn off any automatic log-in facilities (i.e. if you've set it to remember passwords)
  • use a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access your corporate network or intranet
  • enter any personal and banking details only when the site is secure (i.e. look for the padlock icon on your browser and click on it to confirm that the security certificate is valid)

Important: if you're using Windows XP (SP2) and view wireless connection status, you'll see NETSe7en described as an 'Unsecure network' or similar. Windows XP (SP2) describes most public access wireless networks in this way. Please ignore this. NETSe7en uses sophisticated 128-bit public key encryption during log-in to protect transfer of your data. Account traffic is encrypted and your account is password protected.


Authentication and Account Security

The following activities are undertaken using a 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL):

  • when logging in to use NETSe7en
  • purchasing a pricing plan
  • changing your password
  • checking your profile details

When you choose to launch a new browser window to surf the web, depending on your chosen web site, your session may no longer use SSL. This is no different from normal use of the internet.


Protecting the Integrity of the Network

Our network uses:

  • firewall protection to our access routers to help stop hackers
  • dedicated IP network access to the internet
  • individual addressing for customers (i.e. each valid user has an individual session ID)
  • data center firewalls
  • an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) at central sites
  • a walled garden' (i.e. traffic from outside a NETSe7en hotspot is only allowed from authorized servers using our data center )

Please note: war-chalking (marking a building, pavement or site to tell others a Wi-Fi network is present) doesn't affect NETSe7en hotspots as all our users must authenticate in order to log in.


Is WEP Enabled?

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol designed to provide a wireless LAN with a level of security and privacy comparable to what is usually expected of a wired LAN - by encrypting data transmitted over the WLAN.

WEP is not enabled for NETSe7en (i.e. no on-air wireless encryption is used). The standard WEP has a key length of 40 bits which makes it relatively easy to crack. Also, the keys are static and need changing by system administrators. This rate of change is always going to be low, giving a hacker enough time to discover the key. Therefore, other security measures are in place when accessing NETse7en, such as logging in with a unique username and password. We recommend that access to a company network should be via a VPN.

That being said...for registered users we do offer a BETA Version WEP Encrypted network that requires the use of a security key (only in some areas). The ability to "layer" a WEP Encrypted network atop of the public network is still in development and offered free of charge on an as-available basis.





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