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So I'm at home last night trying last night to repair the office laptop that the boss managed to hose yet again <_< and I was trying to use my wireless network router to get patches from M$'s website. My net connection had decided graciously to take a dump so I was screwed... or so I thought.

On a lark I decided to let the 'top see what other networks it could find in range.

It found 8 networks only 2 of which were secured :o

So I took a chance, latched onto the connection with the strongest signal and grabbed the files I needed.

Moral of the story? Secure your wireless networks! If me, Joe Average computer user, using nothing more than Windows XP's built in tools can find an unsecured network in less than a minute and latch onto it, imagine what a hacker with bad intentions could do? :ph34r:

NefCanuck
(My network is secured thank you very much :P )

A buddy of mine had his router hijacked.. quite easy to do if you assume that 80% of people just run the router on default settings.

I used to be the only wireless network in range for the longest time, but the number is growing.



Southpark and Springfield are mine, bobo and bumbum (unencrypted and not online right now) have been around lately.

I have the wep keys for the bobo.. the whole point being that if enough people get on the same channel as me, I'll just switch them all back :P

The problem with wireless is that there's just too much s*** out there for Joe Sixpack to sort through, nevermind use correctly.

It was either D-Link or Linksys (Cisco) that came with a CD recently that auto-configured your WAP/router correctly with at least WEP, preferably WPA when you ran the CD upon connecting the router for the first time to your broadband ISP feed. Again, a complete lack of skill negates any benefit to this... especially when the wizard prompts for your Internet credentials :rolleyes: You'd be surprised how many people that have DSL have no idea what their B1 number is (if Bell) or what their username is. Cable makes this so much easier, obviously, and it's simply the driving force behind the newer, no-logon DSL modems.

All I do lately is upon having wireless LANs mentioned to me by co-workers, I automatically offer to come over and configure it correctly. It saves me a hell of a lot of grief the first time out.

Watch out for honeypots when taking a chance and hopping on a seemingly harmless unsecured wireless network. You might get more than you bargained for ;)

I drove home a few weeks ago with my laptop on in the car and NetStumbler open. Recorded 200 APs on my 14 km trip. It was about 50/50 secure/open but a majority of them were corporate cuz of my route home. But in the residential areas, it was more 25% secure 75% open. And there are plenty of them available, b and g. I've stopped a few times to connect to one, usually while on my bicycle. Resting and chatting online.

Aka,Apr 5 2006, 12:41 PM Wrote:I drove home a few weeks ago with my laptop on in the car and NetStumbler open. Recorded 200 APs on my 14 km trip. It was about 50/50 secure/open but a majority of them were corporate cuz of my route home. But in the residential areas, it was more 25% secure 75% open. And there are plenty of them available, b and g. I've stopped a few times to connect to one, usually while on my bicycle. Resting and chatting online.
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I'm going to be a prick and pick up an 802.11n router..

802.11n is not a compatible standard, meaning you can bring down other 802.11 networks with an 802.11n device. *zzzzzap!*

That's why I went and turned down the gain on my wireless. Can't get signal outside of my house. Inside, its flawless, outside, nothing.

As long as WEP is enabled, and SSID broadcasting/remote management are disabled, the basics are covered...

Network Stumbler is helpful on the go... :)

You guys speak english? ;)

I got a router recently. I set the 64 bit encryption thing, and have a key I have to use. Am I good?

More importantly, how do I protect my laptop? Can it be broken into through the built in wireless card?

^^^ set 128 and it'll take people like me longer to crack it. That's about it :P But it helps significantly cuz we'll probably skip over you to an open one.


Also, use MAC address filtering if you can. It helps A LOT.

If someone can do a capture to crack 128-bit WEP, they can do a MAC grab using Kismet and then boot you off your own network using Airjack. Done.

128-bit is subject to MD5 collisions, so it's about as safe as a wet paper towel over an antenna.

It might deter the script kiddies and the drive-bys, but someone determined will make mincemeat out of it.

the problem with WIFI is that its an UNLICENCED 2.4ghz.. I'm using Rogers Portable high speed (formerly iFido) and its a 2.5 GHz licenced band.. with encripton built-in its faster, and its got a farther range, it doesnt suffer from all the downfalls of wifi.

I'm a total telecom newb, but aren't we discussing two entirely different things? You're talking about a method to deliver broadband content, we're discussing different WiLAN technologies.

WEP is ridiculously easy to crack, turning off SSID, enabling WEP and mac filtering are hurdles, not barriers to hackers.

The great thing is that there are so many unsecured networks, there's really no reason for people to stop and try to get into mine, and considering that I have older hardware, WEP seems to be fine. My biggest issue are other people overlapping my channels. most of them are college kids that move in and out of the appartment building... which is also confusing... my old 802.11b router in the 'office' can't even get through the wall into the living room (hence why I have 2)... but I can get 4 or 5 networks from other people.

I was tempted to get 802.11a just for wall penetration and network individuality.

802.11a actually has less range if memory serves.

I did an excellent course at Learning Tree last November on deploying and securing WiFi. I'm going to grab the course mats now.

NOS2Go4Me,Apr 6 2006, 09:13 AM Wrote:802.11a actually has less range if memory serves.

I did an excellent course at Learning Tree last November on deploying and securing WiFi. I'm going to grab the course mats now.
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it has shorter range, but better penetration... or that's what I keep telling the ladies anyhow..

darkpuppet,Apr 6 2006, 08:32 AM Wrote:

NOS2Go4Me,Apr 6 2006, 09:13 AM Wrote:802.11a actually has less range if memory serves.

I did an excellent course at Learning Tree last November on deploying and securing WiFi. I'm going to grab the course mats now.
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it has shorter range, but better penetration... or that's what I keep telling the ladies anyhow..
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Why wouldn't you just upgrade your hardware to 802.11G? That's what I use (and why I think I could "see" that many wireless networks even including the fact I'm in a concrete condo, all the networks I was seeing were around me in the building)

(Besides, its not about the size of your tools, but how you use them :P :D
)

NefCanuck

NefCanuck,Apr 6 2006, 09:37 AM Wrote:

darkpuppet,Apr 6 2006, 08:32 AM Wrote:

NOS2Go4Me,Apr 6 2006, 09:13 AM Wrote:802.11a actually has less range if memory serves.

I did an excellent course at Learning Tree last November on deploying and securing WiFi. I'm going to grab the course mats now.
[right][snapback]179374[/snapback][/right]

it has shorter range, but better penetration... or that's what I keep telling the ladies anyhow..
[right][snapback]179377[/snapback][/right]

Why wouldn't you just upgrade your hardware to 802.11G? That's what I use (and why I think I could "see" that many wireless networks even including the fact I'm in a concrete condo, all the networks I was seeing were around me in the building)

(Besides, its not about the size of your tools, but how you use them :P :D
)

NefCanuck
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the access point in my living room is b/g so I have g.... I don't like the fact that other people keep intruding on my channel.

Flip to one of the European channels... just remember that you have to traverse 4 numeric channels to really hit one new "channel" with B/G.

NOS2Go4Me,Apr 6 2006, 10:01 AM Wrote:Flip to one of the European channels... just remember that you have to traverse 4 numeric channels to really hit one new "channel" with B/G.
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well, by default routers are set to channel 6, so if I want zero overlap with default routers, I have to go either 1 or 11 (the only two channels that don't overlap with 6)... so living room is 1, office is 11.

Ok... you geeks ;) still aren't telling me how to secure my router...