Growth of Wireless Internet Opens New Path for Thieves

The New York Times ^ | March 19, 2005 | Seth Schiesel

[MississippiMasterpiece]

Special Agent Bob Breeden of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said several cases were traced to wireless networks in Tallahassee.

[Drango]

Going WiFi right now....

[demlosers]

It's an easy fix; set up your LAN security measures.

[evaporation-plus]

It's an easy fix; set up your LAN security measures.

Besides firewall and virus software, is password setup, and data encryption for the wifi enough?

[CBart95]

Thank you for the lesson.
Outside of Mississipi, folks other places prefer getting to the point a little sooner.
Of f the top: list the first 5 things everybody ought to do.
Make #6: Hire You.

[Drango]

http://www.dslreports.com/forums/all

check here for great advice and information...

[television is just wrong]

Make it secure.

[general_re]

I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy, so my suggestion is threefold:

1) Enable WEP encryption on the link
2) Disable SSID broadcasting
3) Enable MAC filtering and whitelist only the machines you want to have access to your network.

[KoRn]

ping

[Paleo Conservative]

It's an easy fix; set up your LAN security measures

You know that, and I know that, but lots of unsuspecting consumers don't know about it. The router manufacuters need to have wizzards that make it easy for end users to configure secure wireless networks.

[RoseofTexas]

bookmarked for later read!

[Paleo Conservative]

1) Enable WEP encryption on the link
2) Disable SSID broadcasting
3) Enable MAC filtering and whitelist only the machines you want to have access to your network.

Of course if anyone wants to add an aditional computer to the network you need to have an IT person available. This makes WiFi problematic to use in a conference room especially on a weekend.

I am rather wary using publicly available WiFi networks due to the lack of security on them. Why should I be required to have unencrypted communications on networks I'm just pasing through? There are gas stations that are beginning to have free WiFi available as a convenience for travelers. Why would I want to use them to check email or my bank accounts if I can't get a secure connection?

[MississippiMan]

The reason most consumers never set up encryption is the difficulty. The security elements of Wi-Fi are confusing and intimidating to the typical surfer. WEP. WPA. Authentication. Blah blah blah. This aspect needs to be vastly simplified on consumer routers, something along the lines of one click to TURN ON PASSPHRASE PROTECTION, set the phrase, and you're done.

MM

[general_re]

There's always some trade-off between security and convenience. For the local coffee shop or gas station, which expects to have many random people connecting, that would not be an appropriate setup - adding new machines is somewhat inconvenient. For a home user with a relatively static set of machines that should be allowed to connect, and who doesn't want to serve as an ISP for the whole world, it's a reasonably secure setup. You could even up the security (and the inconvenience) somewhat by using a strong preshared WPA key and disabling DHCP (assign the wireless machines a static IP) on the AP. Again, this is not convenient insofar as it takes some work to set it up, but the end result is a highly secure wireless connection.

[RhoTheta]

1) Enable WEP encryption on the link
2) Disable SSID broadcasting
3) Enable MAC filtering and whitelist only the machines you want to have access to your network.

Ping

[dennisw]

btt

[L98Fiero]

"Of course if anyone wants to add an aditional computer to the network you need to have an IT person available. This makes WiFi problematic to use in a conference room especially on a weekend."

Agreed. Unfortunately, that IT guy was me. :)

[Publius6961]

There are perhaps 5 different manufacturers of WiFi routers sold in the US.

One would think that it would be to their benefit to make it easier to activate all the security devices in the equipment they sell
I am lucky to have two sons who do it for a living, otherwise I would be as vulnerable as most.

Here's the problem: every time a router or a computer is replaced and the settings have to be restored, not once has the process gone as smoothly and straightforward as it should. So it is not surprising that most people give up.

However, there is a ray of hope. At least we can test our computer/wi-fi setups to see if everything is working as it should:

Vulnerability Check

[Publius6961]

You know, dear friend, you are really trying to help, but that list is useless to someone bewildered by technology.

Giving a step by step example might help, though; even if the example doesn't correspond exactly to the setups others might have.

For example, what's a WEP?
What's an SSID?
What's a MAC?

[Drango]

For SBC DSL customers, the 2wire router/modem http://www.2wire.com/ comes with good default security but it cost 2-3 more than some of the others.