Posted on 07/05/2005 11:21:25 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War
Now there are perhaps three major sub rosa operations. If you know somebody who mentions certain types of words too often, I guarantee they are on a watch list.
Put three geeks together...get three hundred people who can't quite understand them.
Guys, help me out: How can I protect myself? Are there simple instructions, sites I can visit for directions, etc.? Appreciate it, thanks.
It would amaze a lot of folks if they knew how careless some companies are with their wireless networks. There's a lot of them out there setup by non security folks.
Wardriving in business areas is what I would worry about. In addition to personal ID theft.
You can turn off WEP, turn off SSID but get a WAP that supports PPTP.
WiFi security ping.
check this out
It is irrelevant what operating systems you are using. It is the WiFi access point that is the source of this vulnerability. You don't even have to have a computer on for this. Whether your ISP is Wireless, DSL, Cable, WiMax or whatever is also irrelevant. This is about your LAN, not your Internet connection. Living in a rural area is relevant, though. :-) However, WiFi range can be up to a couple of miles, depending on the antennas and terrain.
If you have a wireless home network, read the user's manual for your wireless router and secure it.
Open your Web browser and type “http://192.168.0.1” into the URL address box. Then press the Enter or Return key.
Type “admin” for the username and leave the password field blank (unless you've already set a password).
Click OK
Once you have logged in, the Home screen will appear.
Click Run Wizard
Do enable encryption. Your DI-624 is capable of much faster speeds than your internet connection, so the slow down due to encryption won't make a difference.
ms-its:%windir%\Help\infrared.chm::/WLAN_client_add_WISP.htm
Alternatively, Start/Help and search for "manually add wireless".
I use a Dell router. How do I do this (not transmit my SSID)?
It is highly relevant to overall network security. After 15 years as a heavy Internet user with zero virus, worm or spyware infections, I credit the Mac.
It is the WiFi access point that is the source of this vulnerability. You don't even have to have a computer on for this. Whether your ISP is Wireless, DSL, Cable, WiMax or whatever is also irrelevant. This is about your LAN, not your Internet connection.
Merely encrypting the wireless LAN will not prevent interception when the tower on the roof is blasting an unencrypted signal to the WISP. I use VPN and SSL tunneling past the WISP for stong encryption instead. Access control - not encryption - is useful for preventing unauthorized use of bandwidth.
Living in a rural area is relevant, though. :-)
Heh, network city-boys couldn't survive out here in the wilderness.
This depends on how you can access your router's configuration. If you still have the manual, it should tell you how.
If you don't, generally what you do to access a router is to open your web browser, type http://192.168.0.1 in the address bar, and hit enter. If it prompts for a user/password, it's usually admin/blank password. From there, you can get into the nuts and bolts of configuration.
You generally want to use at least WPA-level encryption with a complex password (WPA2 is out, along with a Windows XP patch to enable it, though it's not downloadable from Windows Update), MAC address filtering (basically, only allowing certain computers on your network), and of course SSID hiding. You also want to change your SSID to something that isn't completely obvious. For example, most routers use an SSID of "default," and Linksys-brand routers have an SSID of "Linksys."
You can load up Dell's online support and try to find step-by-step instructions for doing this, if you're so inclined.
Yeah, let's keep the world safe for the people snooping on us AND the people selling $50/mo. broadband access. WOuldn't want to give any bits away for free, would we?
This article is a disgusting propaganda piece. Just make sure your wifi access is on the far side of your firewall and leave it open. Many businesses do this for business visitors.
Thanks, Terpfen.
So what's the deal with this? In the future I'll be purchasing a reasonably priced laptop with wireless capability. We will be living in a semi-rural area. My biggest problem is trying to remember how to network the printer between a laptop and the desktop pc.
Now I have to worry about someone hacking into my wireless?
His recommendations were good for most wireless LAN users - but I explained why his recommendations would not provide adequate protection for my network.
Netstumbler will pick up on a wireless network without you broadcasting SSID, this is the program of choice for wardrivers, I only know because I have done it before. With Netstumber, Map Point and a simple script, you can not only find networks....but you can create a pin point on map using GPS. Green for open, Red for secure. MAC filtering is simple way to keep people out, not bullet proof.......nothing is, but its better than nothing and keeps the casual wardriver out. With MAC filtering the user will go to other unsecure networks.
http://www.netstumbler.com/
Dlink has emulator for your router on their site, I just pulled this up. Navigate to the filters page of your router, add your two computers MAC. Open windows command prompt, type "ipconfig /all" and it will list all MAC address's of adapters. Add these to filters in Dlink.
http://support.dlink.com/Emulators/di624_revC/adv_filters.html
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