3
by Draesk
For once I'm not really sure what C is getting at... Maybe I'm mis-interpreting both posts, but it doesn't all seem applicable to this situation? The setup of the system at the doctor's office really isn't any of her concern, or anything she could do anything about, so I doubt she'd be able to answer that question. Also, he did say how she'll be connecting to the doc's office - Windows RDP - which certainly is far from the best when it comes to dealing with confidential information remotely. I would suggest that she urge the doctor to implement a proper secured VPN system (easy to do).
Connecting to the doc's office using RDP from home over a hard-line (with properly configured router/firewall) is fine. Doing so over a secured wireless connection, assuming certain conditions are met, can be passable, though not ideal. Those conditioned being that the wireless connection is properly secured with at least WPA2 using AES or AES+TKIP - under no circumstances should WEP be used, it is not secure in any fashion. MAC address filtering is fine to use, but don't kid yourself into thinking that it's any form of actual security - it is super easy to spoof a MAC address. The wireless access point should be connected to/part of a properly firewalled router. However, as noted, this is very far from ideal. Unless it can be assured that the wireless connection is as secure as the hard-line, I wouldn't really want to transfer confidential information over it on a regular basis, and I doubt the gubermentz would look too highly upon it either.
When it comes to picking up a free wi-fi hotspot, under no circumstances should any form of unsecured confidential information be transferred over that connection. Which is to say that, since she is connecting over RDP, she should never use an open hotspot. There are ways of securing your data sent over an open access-point, but none that will really be feasible for your mother, especially when using WinRDP.