Wireless Networks

[walesrob]

This is just a reminder for us who have wireless internet; make sure its secured!

I've seen so many wireless networks with no security at all; I could quite easily log onto their networks and use their internet connection for free, and if I wanted, even dig around their computers.

At the very least, turn-off SSID (thats when the wireless device broadcasts its name), change the administrator password for the wireless device and implement WEP or WPA security mode with 128bit security.

I think Watchdog highlighted the problem recently.

Heres a guide to securing your wireless device:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1...9223889,00.htm

For Netgear routers (typically supplied by AOL and Sky):
http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101675.asp

Be safe

[joebloggs]

netgear

cheers rob, who am i gonna piggy back off , if everyone starts securing their router

[walesrob]

cheers rob, who am i gonna piggy back off , if everyone starts securing their router

Any other crimes you want to admit to, seeing as your a Manc, I'm sure theres a few..

[joebloggs]

Any other crimes you want to admit to, seeing as your a Manc, I'm sure theres a few..

i think rob you've got mixed up with my old boss

still on the run, they will never find him

[KeithD]

I hide in Rob's wardrobe.....They do very strange things with fruit during the night

[joebloggs]

I hide in Rob's wardrobe.....They do very strange things with fruit during the night

back to my old boss again, funny you mention fruit, at his 'stag do' there was a 'show' put on by 3 lesbians they had fruit , feather duster etc

[IainBusby]

3 lesbians fruit and a feather duster

The mind boggles

[joebloggs]

3 lesbians fruit and a feather duster

The mind boggles

it opened my eyes and mind, things were never the same again
embrassing thing is thou, i was there with me older brother, and we were clueless til we got there what kinda show it was

[ginapeterb]

Rob is right, I find it funny, because I have a wi fi finder on my key ring, and when it finds an unprotected network it lets me know, then I get out my HTC Touch Cruise and log on, thank you very much Mr Broaband paying customer.

[andypaul]

Wise words regarding locking down your wirless connection.

One thing your wirless wardrivers want to think about is, are you secure?

[chino]

Rob is right, I find it funny, because I have a wi fi finder on my key ring, and when it finds an unprotected network it lets me know, then I get out my HTC Touch Cruise and log on, thank you very much Mr Broaband paying customer.

Well done... get your MAC address logged and then if you get done you will be taken off by the boys in Blue...

[ginapeterb]

Well done... get your MAC address logged and then if you get done you will be taken off by the boys in Blue...

Rubbish ! you cannot even get them to come out when your house is being broken into.

[aromulus]

Rob is right, I find it funny, because I have a wi fi finder on my key ring, and when it finds an unprotected network it lets me know, then I get out my HTC Touch Cruise and log on, thank you very much Mr Broaband paying customer.

I would love one of those.... But.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4721723.stm

[ginapeterb]

The above case is true, however, my activities are restricted to maybe the odd couple of minutes here and there, and lets be honest, so many networks in private households are WEP encrypted, most BT Total Broadband networks are WEP, its a rarity, that you can find one.

Apart from that my wi-fi finder is really for accessing free networks, that are available, i.e. public networks, plus its great for finding the CLOUD hotspots which I am a paying member of.

I have free access to the Clouds group of wi fi spots, plus I also have the new 4G service on my windows mobile, quite frankly, with download speeds of up to 3.6 MB per second on my hand held, why should I worry.

For those who would like to see my new baby here it is: and you can't beat this specification anywhere in the world right now.

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2007/1...-you-all-love/

In a word...absolutely superb. !

[LadyJ]

This is just a reminder for us who have wireless internet; make sure its secured!

I've seen so many wireless networks with no security at all; I could quite easily log onto their networks and use their internet connection for free, and if I wanted, even dig around their computers.

At the very least, turn-off SSID (thats when the wireless device broadcasts its name), change the administrator password for the wireless device and implement WEP or WPA security mode with 128bit security.

I think Watchdog highlighted the problem recently.

Heres a guide to securing your wireless device:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1...9223889,00.htm

For Netgear routers (typically supplied by AOL and Sky):
http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101675.asp

Be safe

WHen I changed my broadband provider I haven't got broadband connection for 24 hours but a couple of my neighbours have their wireless connection unsecured and It connects me to them so easily and for free. I could just cancel my broadband and connects to my neighbours wireless connection but it's not safe.

[chino]

You have to be careful. Using it once i think is ok but everyday is not...

Regarding the police when they will come out but it all depends on where you live! I was in the process of moving from a very expensive area and was living in a crap area.... I called the police and they never arrived (just a letter). I moved back to an nice area and called the police and they turned in in minutes.

If you have logging enabled on the router it nice and easy to obtain a MAC which cannot be changed and is unique - Yes you can use MAC spoofing but then again why would you be doing this. The law is getting very strict on this as people are logging and to open wifi and accessing child porn - even with most ISP's using the IWF proxy servers.

The chance is very small of getting done for doing it though i would not as you can get done... Just go to wetherspoons and buy a pint to get 30min free wifi access!

[aromulus]

Just go to wetherspoons and buy a pint to get 30min free wifi access!

It ain't worth it, as the beer tastes absolutely disgusting.

[joebloggs]

If you have logging enabled on the router it nice and easy to obtain a MAC which cannot be changed and is unique - Yes you can use MAC spoofing but then again why would you be doing this.

easier than that, block all mac addresses and allow only yours thru the router.

[KeithD]

Only one person has ever been charged with 'nicking bandwidth' .......yet that law was made in the days when it cost money, now you get GB's for bugger all.

[IainBusby]

easier than that, block all mac addresses and allow only yours thru the router.

The address range of a typical domestic router will be something like 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 . To secure the router properly so that only your devices can connect, you simply restrict the address range to the address of the router, typically 192.168.0.1 plus 1 additional address for each device, PC or network printer etc, that you have in your household.

So if for instance you had 2 PC's, 1 laptop, 1 network printer and a network media storage device that would be 5 devices plus the router making 6 in all. Then you would simply set the address range in your router to 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.6 and then restrict the issuance of each address to a particular mac address so that each of your devices are then tied to a particular address.

Cheers,

Iain.

[walesrob]

The address range of a typical domestic router will be something like 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 . To secure the router properly so that only your devices can connect, you simply restrict the address range to the address of the router, typically 192.168.0.1 plus 1 additional address for each device, PC or network printer etc, that you have in your household.

So if for instance you had 2 PC's, 1 laptop, 1 network printer and a network media storage device that would be 5 devices plus the router making 6 in all. Then you would simply set the address range in your router to 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.6 and then restrict the issuance of each address to a particular mac address so that each of your devices are then tied to a particular address.

Cheers,

Iain.

Good advice there Iain, especially if you live in an area where there are many wireless networks.

[aromulus]

The address range of a typical domestic router will be something like 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 . To secure the router properly so that only your devices can connect, you simply restrict the address range to the address of the router, typically 192.168.0.1 plus 1 additional address for each device, PC or network printer etc, that you have in your household.

So if for instance you had 2 PC's, 1 laptop, 1 network printer and a network media storage device that would be 5 devices plus the router making 6 in all. Then you would simply set the address range in your router to 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.6 and then restrict the issuance of each address to a particular mac address so that each of your devices are then tied to a particular address.

Cheers,

Iain.

Does anybody speak the Queen's English, on this site, anymore............????

[IainBusby]

The address range of a typical domestic router will be something like 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 . To secure the router properly so that only your devices can connect, you simply restrict the address range to the address of the router, typically 192.168.0.1 plus 1 additional address for each device, PC or network printer etc, that you have in your household.

So if for instance you had 2 PC's, 1 laptop, 1 network printer and a network media storage device that would be 5 devices plus the router making 6 in all. Then you would simply set the address range in your router to 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.6 and then restrict the issuance of each address to a particular mac address so that each of your devices are then tied to a particular address.

Cheers,

Iain.

Oh, and don't forget to change the router name and the admin password.

[IainBusby]

Does anybody speak the Queen's English, on this site, anymore............????

Sorry about that Dom, I was just just chewing on a manual.

[joebloggs]

more important don't forget to hide your name of your router/network from being broadcast

and save or write down the settings of your router just incase it loses them or you have to do a cold reset , espcially if its taken you hours setting it up

[IainBusby]

more important don't forget to hide your name of your router/network from being broadcast

and save or write down the settings of your router just incase it loses them or you have to do a cold reset , espcially if its taken you hours setting it up

Oh, btw, don't forget to hide your name of your router/network from being broadcast and save or write down the settings of your router just in case it loses them or you have to do a cold reset, espcially if its taken you hours setting it up. Where's Dom, is he taking this all in?

[joebloggs]

its friday afternoon, dom will be helping himself to the stock

[IainBusby]

its friday afternoon, dom will be helping himself to the stock

[walesrob]

more important don't forget to hide your name of your router/network from being broadcast

and save or write down the settings of your router just incase it loses them or you have to do a cold reset , espcially if its taken you hours setting it up

Blimey Charlie

[andypaul]

You can hide your Ssid or change but free programs will still see your Network. Google network stumbler, which is also useful if your wirless network keeps acting up you can see if any hidden aps are broadcasting on the same channel. A very handy tool.

There are many more programs and devices which will detect networks with or without ssids.



Wep is near useless as a encryption method and just about all the other methods can be unlocked by people with easily downloaded programs.

Best way is to change the wep codes regularly but for most people with various phones, computers, printers and entertainment systems it gets a bit time consuming.

What Iain says about limiting and locking down the mac addresses is the best way of securing most peoples networks which in most cases will be rock solid.
But do be aware nerds can spoof your mac address but its highly unlikely your next door neighbour will go to the effort of doing this.

What ever you do make sure all devices you use on a wirless network are fully secured and lockdowned. Never ever have senstive information or access senstive information on a device that you use on a public or unlocked network.
Many unlocked aps are actually there hoping your log in so they can have a look at your pc and possibly leave you a present or just sniff your traffic seeing what info you look at.

Also i have seen BT users if they use the bt wirless device ( i have one but don't think its secure enough as a router so use my own) can sign up for a scheme where if you allow others to share your router can use others who sign up.

Like chino says i would not allow just anybody to use my network as any ilegal actvity will be blamed on you.