Wireless Network
- Thread starter Jeeptj98
- Start date
its still not terribly difficult for someone that knows what they are doing to get onto a WEP encrypted network, but you have to know what you are doing, or get damn lucky and guess the password. Basically if its enabled then I doubt anyone is on your network, in order to see if anyone is on you can log into your router and view connected devices. If you really want to lock it down you can setup different exclusions and only allow your specific MAC addresses. IMO, lock your machines down and dont worry so much about the network.
why are you wondering?
why are you wondering?
Jeeptj98
Active Member
Supergper said:
I just wanted to make sure I wasn't like the other idiots that live in my neighborhood. When I was on my Laptop I was able to connect to all of their networks and was able to get into some of there files and I am like I said computer retarded so I was thinking if it was this easy for me I couldn't imagine how easy it would be for others.
Poor said:
My neighbors computer was wide open, so was his router...so I kept changing his SSID to things like "youshouldsecurethis" or "youREALLYshouldsecurethis" or "doyagetthepointyet" type of things...it took about a month of this before he got the hint
run a firewall for your computer (windows XP firewall is actually alright for everyday things) that way outside people cant get to your files without trying. I often drive around with my PDA on (it has wireless) and minstumbler running just to see how many networks I'll pickup...often in very short drives (under 5 miles) I will pickup anywhere form 50-200 networks, and usually about half are not secured at all, and about half of the ones that are enabled have factory settings (meaning factory passwords too generally). The best thing to do is to cahnge your SSID (your network name), this will be the first clue to anyone peaking in that you know SOMETHING about your network.
Poor said:
what router do you have? on a Linysys you can turn on logging and get an idea. As for security there are 3 different things you can do to prevent others from connection, all of which can be bypassed by a dedicated person.
1. Turn on WEP encrypton. This encrypts all traffic, as mentioned it can be "hacked" but most people would not bother unless there was a real reason to do it.
2. Hide your SSID. This just prevents the casual bypasses from finding your router
3. Us an access list of what MAC addresses are allowed to connect to your router. your neighbors card will not be able to connect unless he is smart enough to find the MAC of your card, and then duplicate that MAC to his card.
All of that may be too much info, but if you have a question I will try to help out. Start by telling us the make and model of your wireless router.
Jeeptj98
Active Member
rusted said:
Right now I have the Qwest DSL Actiontec modem and Router, I am just about to make a purchase for a different router though. I am going to purchase the Linksys Wireless G with SRX router. I already have the SRX notebook Adapter. What is the difference between WEP and WPA? Thanks again to everyone that is giving me info. I really do appreciate it.
gijohn40
too poor to wheel... :(
- Location
- Layton, Utah
There was a story about a guy that got busted by the cops... seem he had a laptop and was driving his car around the and finding networks that were not secure and when he did was going in and looking up child porno and then was taking matters into his hand while sitting in his car outside the persons house.,, this way if the super smart computer guys that try to track that kind of internet useage wanted to pinpoint him and go after him it would come back to the person with the network and not him....
So in the future take a look outside your house everyonce in a while to see if there are cars that don't belong... specially vans and suv's!
John
P.S. you can also go in and limit how many users are allowed to log into your router... this is what I do...so if one of my computers is not allowed to get on the web I know that the license expired and someone else got it... and I can go in and delete that person and get mine back online
So in the future take a look outside your house everyonce in a while to see if there are cars that don't belong... specially vans and suv's!
John
P.S. you can also go in and limit how many users are allowed to log into your router... this is what I do...so if one of my computers is not allowed to get on the web I know that the license expired and someone else got it... and I can go in and delete that person and get mine back online
Poor said:
In short, its the level of encryption thats the difference. WPA is so much more secure that its WAY less likely to be hacked. Someone would have to want onto your network VERY badly to sit around and try to hack it...even then they may not be able to do it (some have said PWA is impossible to crack, but nothing is impossible, if someone wants it bad enough they will find a way)...WPA is the way to go for encryption...