Wireless encryption

[iviv]

What exactly gets encrypted? I'm currently bored at uni, because my timetable for Tuesdays is useless, lecture 9-11am and then 4-6pm.
Got all my coursework done, just had exams, so there's not anything to revise yet, so I'm on campus and bored. But enough justification, my question:

PHOENIX-NET-SECURE. Available immediately to all current staff and students PHOENIX-NET-SECURE provides full wireless encryption and access to all University Systems you have authority to use as well as access to the Internet. PHOENIX-NET-SECURE makes use of a technology called 802.1x and requires some changes to be made to your wireless settings.

The uni's wireless service has this option available, I'm just curious what exactly the encryption entails? More specifically, would I be able to play WoW or TF2 online with it without getting detected?
I'm currently signed onto Steam anyway, since it started up with my laptop and it all sems to be ok, and the IT terms of service don't seem to say you can't play online games on their service, but its better to be safe than sorry.

So, would the encryption mean they don't know what I'm doing? Or should I stick with Torchlight?

 

[uv]

So, would the encryption mean they don't know what I'm doing? Or should I stick with Torchlight?

The wireless encryption they're talking about is simply the WEP/WPA etc encryption on the wireless data transmission. It's nothing to do with packet encryption for internet data.

 

[daz]

It just means that the packets whilst in wireless form are encrypted. Once they hit the router/wireless access point, however, they can still be sniffed - use a secure VPN and/or https to ensure any sensitive data transferred is done so securely.

People immediately trust wireless networks when they see "Oh, it's secured " - but there could be anything connected to the wired side of the network sniffing your packets, acting as a proxy server. There's some clever stuff out there now that can fool users - things that will serve https://gmail.com as http://gmail.com, but replace the default favicon with a padlock, to fool a large percentage of users into thinking they're using SSL...