Wireless security settings

[LungJian]

Does anyone really care to packet-sniff your porno downloads or emails to your mother? My main concerns are neighbors jumping on my wireless for free (intentionally or not) and sucking up my bandwidth. If I see duplicate entries for one MAC address, I'll tighten up security. Sounds like I'm already ahead of the game with MAC filtering. AND... I never use the default password!

[heftysmokes]

Hey LungJian-

This is some great info you're sharing, and you're obviously quite savvy in the technological world, but I was wondering: who the fuck are you?

This is generally a cigar board, and while there are a lot of different areas of discussion, we generally like it if a person who comes into our community and sets up shop tells us a little bit about themselves: what cigars they like, how long they've smoked cigars, how often they smoke cigars (seeing the theme here)? At the very least, how about heading into one of the cigar related sections and introducing yourelf?

Peace.
Heftysmokes

[Satchmo]

I have just set up a wireless access point??!? It was an Invensys. I had all kinds of issues setting it up, but finally got it going . I have yet to figure out the security setup.

After reading Drew's post, I really need to get on that !!! Can someone actually get into my hard drive throught the WAP?

Jason

[Kenyth]

I have just set up a wireless access point??!? It was an Invensys. I had all kinds of issues setting it up, but finally got it going . I have yet to figure out the security setup.

After reading Drew's post, I really need to get on that !!! Can someone actually get into my hard drive throught the WAP?

Jason

Possibly, depending on your setup.

The main problem, as mentioned before, is people stealing your bandwidth and maybe even using your network to cause mischief and do illegal things. It makes them untracable.

An usecured wireless router with an unsecured computer means that, at the very least, anyone can join your network and use any network shares. If you have an administrative root share available on your PC, they may have access to your entire HDD contents! From there, they could wreak havok. Maybe put a keylogger on the PC and capture passwords, credit card numbers, etc.

New wireless devices come with certain security features enabled by default, to help protect the technically challenged, but if you do any type of sensitive activity on your PC (including on-line purchases), you'll want to make it as secure as possible.

Packet sniffing can capture all the clear text you exchange with the internet. Most sites use HTTPS for secure transactions, ensuring sensitive data is encrypted at one level at least. Many lesser sites use clear text for basic password access though, and if you're in the habit of using the same name and password for everything, you can see the problem.

[Satchmo]

I did not realize that having the wireless network unsecured was that bad. It's like picking up the soap in prison, you could get screwed!!!

I'll have to make another attempt on password protecting that network. I'm sure one of you good ol' boyz could provide a pointer if I end up with a meltdown again

[Kenyth]

I did not realize that having the wireless network unsecured was that bad. It's like picking up the soap in prison, you could get screwed!!!

I'll have to make another attempt on password protecting that network. I'm sure one of you good ol' boyz could provide a pointer if I end up with a meltdown again

Like I said before, I recommend using WPA-PSK. For the ASCII pre-shared key use a long nonsensical string of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. There's other stuff too, but that's your best first option. Do not give out your pre shared key to anyone you wouldn't trust with a full set of your house and car keys.

[Kenyth]

Does anyone really care to packet-sniff your porno downloads or emails to your mother? My main concerns are neighbors jumping on my wireless for free (intentionally or not) and sucking up my bandwidth. If I see duplicate entries for one MAC address, I'll tighten up security. Sounds like I'm already ahead of the game with MAC filtering. AND... I never use the default password!

Well, you certainly are one step ahead by doing anything at all, but the main point here isn't, "Does someone want to?". It's, "If someone does.". Of course any deterrent is better than none and even the weakest deterrent is good enough for the casual passer-by. As far as packet sniffing goes, you bet hackers will sniff packets. They don't have to run through them by hand. They have software to analyse the gathered data. It doesn't take much time and effort at all if you know what you're doing and have the correct tools. If people will sniff packets just to break WEP keys and use your wireless for fun, they'll clone your MAC and IP too.