Question about using a cellphone as a hotspot for laptop

[TwilightLink]

Hello!

I recently started using my cellphone as a hotspot for my laptop and I was wondering how safe is it, I mean, if my cellphone gets malware, can it access the information that my laptop (windows) sends to other websites? (Like login information and similar?)

 

Sorry if the question is stupid, I never used mobile hotspot before

 

Thanks for the answers!

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, TwilightLink said:

I mean, if my cellphone gets malware, can it access the information that my laptop (windows) sends to other websites? (Like login information and similar?)

Yes, if the login-information is sent over unencrypted HTTP. Alas, pretty much all websites and services these days use HTTPS or TLS and as such that is not a concern. The malware could still try to do a man-in-the-middle attack, but you'd get a certificate-warning on your PC, so it still wouldn't work unless you specifically told your browser to ignore the warning and continue anyways.

[TheBean]

this is similar to what VPNs scare you into. NO, using public wifi is not a problem as long as you visit a website using HTTPS. 

same thing applies here. as long as the website you are using is https or TLS or something secure, it should not matter. 

[TwilightLink]

Thanks for the answers!

1 hour ago, WereCatf said:

Yes, if the login-information is sent over unencrypted HTTP. Alas, pretty much all websites and services these days use HTTPS or TLS and as such that is not a concern

 

24 minutes ago, Saksham said:

same thing applies here. as long as the website you are using is https or TLS or something secure, it should not matter. 

Awesome! The page that i was using had the little lock next to the adress bar, so I'm safe then.

 

1 hour ago, WereCatf said:

The malware could still try to do a man-in-the-middle attack, but you'd get a certificate-warning on your PC, so it still wouldn't work unless you specifically told your browser to ignore the warning and continue anyways.

If my browser or my AV tell me that something is wrong with the website or certificate, I always run from the site