WiFi questions

[Verb]

hello.


I recently bought a wireless adapter for my laptop. I was just wondering what are the chances of picking up a open signal around town?

 

[Maury Beniowski]

Excellent chances most anywhere, at least for the time being. Eventually, un-secured private wireless networks will be a thing of the past, and the cards will be supplied with default settings set to secured... I played around with one for a long time in the suburbs with some success. However, they can be un-predictable at times, unless you're downtown, or other densely populated areas.

 

[deke]

Well, if you live in Springfield, maybe Homer might know where some Wi-Fi hotspots are!

 

[hitrack]

Doing a little war driving are ya there Verb?!?!?!

Don't forget to do some war painting to, thats when you find a open signal grab a can of spray paint and paint on the building or house, etc.... so the rest of us won't have to search.

 

[luckydog71]

Hi track.....I can give you one spot that works all of the time.

In an airport sit close to the First Class lounges. All of them now have wireless internet access and it is not secure because they want easy access for their first class passengers...

 

[Commander Chode]

Originally posted by homeless
another wi fi question.how secure is a wireless connection ?

Wifi is a shared medium. You are shouting your packets to the world. Anyone can see them and anyone can insert data into the stream. The best thing to do is to encrypt your data stream. When they designed the protocol they did add in a standard for encryption called WEP but it was badly designed and almost useless. Still, if it's practical to use it, turn it on and it will slow down the bad guys for a few minutes, or they might go looking for a easier target.

The best thing to do is to encrypt everything via a known strong system. IPSec, or SSL tunnels are good examples.

When this is not possible, don't access sensitive information over WiFi.

is it easier for a hacker to access my pc via a wireless connection ? i am using a firewall etc.

What is at most risk is the data on the WiFi network if it is unencrypted. Traditional access to your PC is the same weather you are on a wired or wireless network. The difference is that some people rely upon their router's firewall for protection from the internet. With WiFi they can be inside your router's firewall and attack your PC directly. If you have a software firewall on your PC you have taken a good first step against this threat. Also if your home network is WiFi they might not attack your PC but instead attack your embeded devices like your printer.

WiFi does introduce other attacks. Because the data you send and receive is broadcast data can be inserted. This leads to easy phishing and man in the middle attacks. Encryption is key.

also would your ip address change every time you changed networks?

Yes. IP address and routing information will have to change. DHCP usually takes care of this for you.

 

[Marvin]

OK, totally confused about how secure wireless connections are now.

If one has a new laptop with the latest mobile chip, antivirus and firewall, etc. together with a wireless router, does this mean that this set up is vulernable to hackers? Does this mean that the wireless connection is not secure? If this is the case, how can one take precautions to secure the wireless connection?

Advice from you techies out there would be helpful.

 

[Commander Chode]

OK, totally confused about how secure wireless connections are now.

If one has a new laptop with the latest mobile chip, antivirus and firewall, etc. together with a wireless router, does this mean that this set up is vulernable to hackers? Does this mean that the wireless connection is not secure? If this is the case, how can one take precautions to secure the wireless connection?

Advice from you techies out there would be helpful.

+--------------------+     +---------+              +------------------+
| Internet           |-----+ router  | + Wireless + | Your Wireless PC |
|   Lots of bad guys |     +---------+       +      +------------------+
+--------------------+                       +
                                         Bad guys within
                                           100 meters (depending on equipment
                                                 and what your house is
						 made of)

Your PC at the same risk from all the bad guys on the net as it always has. What wireless has done is add an easily accessible network close to you. Anyone within the range of the wireless network (or anyone who moves into range) has access to this network. Compared to the numbers of bad guys on the internet there are almost no bad guys with in range of most WiFi networks. This does not mean you are less vulnerable just that there are fewer people with in 100m of your house then there are on the internet.

If your security is only on your router, then someone within range, who wants to do bad things, will have a very easy time.

If you have a software firewall, and have kept up with the latest security updates and patches, you are fairly safe from a direct attack weather it comes from a wireless or a wired connection.

What is not safe is your data. Anyone can view your unencrypted traffic. If you don't want your neighbours to read your email, or know you post on PERB, then you need to secure your WiFi.

Easy things to do:

1) Don't broadcast your Wireless network name (SSID)
2) Use WEP. It's practically useless, but it's a speed bump and it might stop the casual bad guy.
3) MAC address filtering. Most wireless routers allow you to input a list of MAC addresses you can filter on. This will slow down a bad guy as they have to wait for some traffic to steal your MAC address. Another speed bump

Harder things:
VPN: If you can set up a VPN and use it to encrypt all traffic over your WiFi that would be the best. This can get very technical and may not be worth your time.

It all depends on the risk you want to take. If you are on a farm you probably aren't worried. Downtown Vancouver would be a different story.

 

[Marvin]

Holy crap!! Thanks for the lesson Chode.

So, this brings me to ask another question. If the router is not secured, i.e., I am using Norton, then would it be better to use internet security as provided by an ISP such as Telus or it just doesn't matter?

 

[Commander Chode]

If the router is not secured, i.e., I am using Norton, then would it be better to use internet security as provided by an ISP such as Telus or it just doesn't matter?

I'm a bit confused.

Here's some pictures of a hispeed setup

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) +--| Modem |--| Your PC |
+----------+   +------------+  +-------+  +---------+

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) |--| Modem |--| Router |--| Your PC |
+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +---------------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) |--| Modem |--| Router + Wifi |--| Your PC |
+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +---------------+  +---------+

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) |--| Modem |--| Router |--| Wifi AP |--| Your PC |
+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+  +---------+

What best describes your setup?
I don't think Norton make routers, but I could be wrong.
What sort of security does Telus provide? Could you point me to a page?

On a side note, I hate that the makers of these "routers" have decided to call them routers, because they are not. They are small NAT machines and are not really routers.

 

[Commander Chode]

i have to use a pass word and user name to gain acess to the network,but have often wondered what the odds are of someone that doesnt subscribe hacking into the wifi site and how difficult it woud be to access one of these sites without a suscription.

It all matters on the setup of this system. If it's 802.11 Wifi, then they would have to add some third part encryption to make the Wifi part secure. It's fairly easy to authenticate people and make sure the authentication is correct, but much harder to protect the data between the wireless APs and the clients.

My guess is that it would be fairly easy to see your data on the wireless network but much harder to gain access to the system and to use the bandwidth, but that's just a pure guess.

 

[Marvin]

I'm a bit confused.

Here's some pictures of a hispeed setup

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) +--| Modem |--| Your PC |
+----------+   +------------+  +-------+  +---------+

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) |--| Modem |--| Router |--| Your PC |
+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +---------------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) |--| Modem |--| Router + Wifi |--| Your PC |
+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +---------------+  +---------+

+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+  +---------+
| Internet |--| ISP (Telus) |--| Modem |--| Router |--| Wifi AP |--| Your PC |
+----------+  +-------------+  +-------+  +--------+  +---------+  +---------+

What best describes your setup?

The one that best describes my set up is the second one, however, the router is a wireless router. Your help is appreciated.

 

[Commander Chode]

The one that best describes my set up is the second one, however, the router is a wireless router. Your help is appreciated.

Good. Now I need to know what makes your router not secured. Is the management interface not password protected? Also what services does Telus provide?

 

[Marvin]

Good. Now I need to know what makes your router not secured. Is the management interface not password protected? Also what services does Telus provide?

Huh?!?

See, I have no idea about this sort of stuff. All I know is that I bought the wireless router because I have a mobile Centrino chip and I didn't want to buy a 50ft cable to haul around the condo.

If you could enlighten me on the management interface, I would be grateful.

As for Telus, I cancelled all the security features as my new laptop comes loaded with Norton. Until Norton expires, I will use it and then probably restart Telus, which provides a firewall, spam protection and anti-spyware I think.

 

[deke]

The router itself should be password protected. This is the point which people will gain access to your internet connection and your computer. With access to your internet connection, they will be able to download all kinds of crap, (like child porn). You should close all open ports to your router and just leave 1 open, the one that you are using, and make sure you need a password to log on!

 

[RoadKill]

I have cable going through a wireless router. How do I put a WEP thing on it?