Wireless Network Question

[TRACket Paul]

Nelson, also with open network you'll lose some of the bandwidth (reduced speed of transfer) as more users get on.

 

[Richard L]

C,

You are correct that the WPA is more secure, and my router support it with 20 character and up to a 36 character key. I'm not hiding WMD's nor do I have anything on my PC that I need to protect that much.



The nice feature of my D-Link router is that it makes my internet connection invisible so hackers never know I'm connected. Infact, the Internet connection light and the transmitt/receive lights on the DSL modem do not even light since I turned on the security/firewalls. That prevents the hackers from finding your PC online and attempting to hack into it. Ususally they don't want you data or information, they want to use your PC as an unwilling slave to diseminate viruses and launch attacks on other Servers.



...Rich

 

[Gerald Pierce]

When I fired up my new laptop the other night, I had at least 6 networks available, only 2 were secure (mine and my immediate neighbor). The others were all "linksys" and "d-link" default set-ups. I tried later and accessed every one that was unsecure, 3 even had shared folders full of stuff you could access.



Amazing. And to top it off, there is a large parking lot right across the street (school) that someone could park in and just wreak havoc with these folks.....

 

[Todd Cloutier]

Here's a handy site to find the WiFi ap's in your neighborhood. Lot's of Linksys ap's out there.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

FYI...WEP encryption can be broken in less than 20 minutes with software tools easily found and downloaded off the Internet.

 

[Richard L]

TJR,

Any encryption can be broken if you don't care how much time it takes. While some hacker might be able to do it in 20 minutes does not mean other may take longer and still be unsuccessful. If I felt there was a serious threat I would go to an automaticly changing key.



The problem is the would-be hacker would have to live or park within range of my wireless signal and that would be hard to do in my neighborhood without being noticed by some nosey neighbor. The is verly little on-street parking on my street If it is one of my neighbors, I could detect their networks as easliy as they could detect mine. And since I know both neighbors who live on both sides of me and across the street, I can assure you that none are capable of hacking into their own PC's much less mine.



The simple fact that one of them is operating an unsecure wireless network means they don't know what they are doing, and I will probably have to secure their networks after I tell them that I have been able to access their networks accidently.



...Rich

 

[Thomas Rogers]

RichardL, I wasn't talking to you or anyone specifically regarding WEP.



I was merely informing people that WEP can be broken easily in under 20 minutes. The video link I showed shows a program that breaks WEP in under 10 minutes. Regardless how vigilant your neighborhood watch is, 10 minutes in a parked car at 3:00am isn't that unlikely of an intrusion period. A smart hacker would crack the key one night, then come back the next or later to lurk, so "yes", changing the keys would help.



I was simply trying communicate this and let people know that *IF* their computers and routers support WAP they should consider using that instead of WEP.



Kinda like deadbolt vs simple doorknob locks.



TJR

 

[Richard L]

TJR,

I understand your point, but I don't think that most home networks are under that significant of a threat from someone parking in front of their house and trying to crack into their wireless network.



Also, as an added precaution, I do not leave my PC's or my router on at night or when I'm not using the PC, so they would could only make their attempt during the day when I'm home and have my equipment turned on, and that would expose them to all the neighbors. Also, I usually work in my office and my chair faces directly out the front window, so I could see if anyone stopped in front of the house.



On my router, it's possible to reduce the range of the signals to prevent the signal from going too far out from your house. Of course that will also reduce the range in your house to a point where the signal may be too weak to used in other parts of the house if the RF signal must penatrate through numerous walls. In my case I do have my router set for Extended Range or I cannot get a sufficient signal on the other side of the house.



...Rich

 

[Richard L]

TJR,

I understand your point, but I don't think that most home networks are under that significant of a threat from someone parking in front of their house and trying to crack into their wireless network. At least not in this neighborhood.



Also, as an added precaution, I do not leave my PC's or my router on at night or when I'm not using the PC, so they would could only make their attempt during the day when I'm home and have my equipment turned on, and that would expose them to all the neighbors. Also, I usually work in my office and my chair faces directly out the front window, so I could see if anyone stopped in front of the house.



On my router, it's possible to reduce the range of the signals to prevent the signal from going too far out from your house. Of course that will also reduce the range in your house to a point where the signal may be too weak to used in other parts of the house if the RF signal must penatrate through numerous walls. In my case I do have my router set for Extended Range or I cannot get a sufficient signal on the other side of the house.



...Rich