Is SSL secure over wireless?

[Infohawk]

I know that when I type in my anandtech password over wireless in a cafe it's not secure (I also don't care given that it's not a crucial password and if someone goes nuts with my account it's only so bad).

I also generally use SSH for certain important transfers in public, and those can't be read.

But what about SSL? Recently I had to pay a bill online in a wireless cafe (wasn't in a position where I could do it another way). I sent my CC information. Now I used firefox and there was the lock in the corner and I assume they were using SSL. Does that mean it wouldn't be sniffed? Or could it be?

 

[InlineFive]

If you click on the padlock you can see what type of encryption the server has initiated with your computer. Even over an unsecured public WiFi point the data is still encrypted so you should be fine.

 

[stash]

A lock icon generally indicates that the transmission is secured, but you should still check the certificate itself to make sure you are communicating with who you think you are communicating with.

You should also know when you submit information using a form (like your bills), the lock icon does not tell you for certain that the data in the form will be sent encrypted. The lock icon only tells you that the form itself was sent to your machine encrypted. In most cases, the form data is encrypted when submitted, but that isn't necessarily the case.

 

[Xtremist]

True, but in IE at least (by default) it will notify you if you have reason to think something you're doing (navigation, form submital, etc...) should be secure and it's not. You can turn this off of course, but by default it's pretty apparent..