Leaving your wireless open
Discussion
I've had a wireless router for a fair few years now, and a broadband connection to go with it.
Now, In an ideal world, wireless would be free for everyone to use, and I'm sure that most of us with the capability have leached off another connection once in a while, when the need has taken us.
Moved to a new house recently and setup the wireless as usual. I've pretty much always left it open for anyone to access, out of choice rather than stupidity, as I know how useful that can be. The vast majority of people who have logged on have on been online for a short while and most of the time I've never noticed them online, and to be honest not that many people have used it over the past few years.
Now, the new house is different. Trying to use my net access the other night only to find I had pretty much zero bandwidth, some dude is caning my connection for all it's worth! So... now my wireless has gone private and nobody can connect.
No point trying to be nice when people take you for a ride, so if anybody takes advantage of a free wireless connection in future, don't take the piss and it might still be open next time you come to need it
Now, In an ideal world, wireless would be free for everyone to use, and I'm sure that most of us with the capability have leached off another connection once in a while, when the need has taken us.
Moved to a new house recently and setup the wireless as usual. I've pretty much always left it open for anyone to access, out of choice rather than stupidity, as I know how useful that can be. The vast majority of people who have logged on have on been online for a short while and most of the time I've never noticed them online, and to be honest not that many people have used it over the past few years.
Now, the new house is different. Trying to use my net access the other night only to find I had pretty much zero bandwidth, some dude is caning my connection for all it's worth! So... now my wireless has gone private and nobody can connect.
No point trying to be nice when people take you for a ride, so if anybody takes advantage of a free wireless connection in future, don't take the piss and it might still be open next time you come to need it
Hey Dave
My router logs every connection, and my isp logs my bandwidth usage, so by combination of the two and a little bit of brain work it all becomes clear. You could probably spend a bit more on another router that will tell you exactly what is going on, but i've never felt the need.
My router logs every connection, and my isp logs my bandwidth usage, so by combination of the two and a little bit of brain work it all becomes clear. You could probably spend a bit more on another router that will tell you exactly what is going on, but i've never felt the need.
You should also be able to see connected devices Oggs on your router admin section -> http://192.168.0.1
Edited by FourWheelDrift on Sunday 10th December 22:29
FourWheelDrift said:
You should also be able to see connected devices Oggs on your router admin section -> http://192.168.0.1
Hey! That's my router!
trooperiziz said:
I've had a wireless router for a fair few years now, and a broadband connection to go with it.
Now, In an ideal world, wireless would be free for everyone to use, and I'm sure that most of us with the capability have leached off another connection once in a while, when the need has taken us.
Moved to a new house recently and setup the wireless as usual. I've pretty much always left it open for anyone to access, out of choice rather than stupidity, as I know how useful that can be. The vast majority of people who have logged on have on been online for a short while and most of the time I've never noticed them online, and to be honest not that many people have used it over the past few years.
Now, the new house is different. Trying to use my net access the other night only to find I had pretty much zero bandwidth, some dude is caning my connection for all it's worth! So... now my wireless has gone private and nobody can connect.
No point trying to be nice when people take you for a ride, so if anybody takes advantage of a free wireless connection in future, don't take the piss and it might still be open next time you come to need it
Now, In an ideal world, wireless would be free for everyone to use, and I'm sure that most of us with the capability have leached off another connection once in a while, when the need has taken us.
Moved to a new house recently and setup the wireless as usual. I've pretty much always left it open for anyone to access, out of choice rather than stupidity, as I know how useful that can be. The vast majority of people who have logged on have on been online for a short while and most of the time I've never noticed them online, and to be honest not that many people have used it over the past few years.
Now, the new house is different. Trying to use my net access the other night only to find I had pretty much zero bandwidth, some dude is caning my connection for all it's worth! So... now my wireless has gone private and nobody can connect.
No point trying to be nice when people take you for a ride, so if anybody takes advantage of a free wireless connection in future, don't take the piss and it might still be open next time you come to need it
I presume you've always taken very stringent measures to ensure these guests can't access your own systems? Also I know it's unlikely but if any of these people were using your line to perform illegal activities you could end up in a sticky situation with the law.
Nice idea though, if only my neighbours were as thoughtful, I'd be a few quid a month better off!
Edited by theboss on Monday 11th December 01:07
trooperiziz said:
Hey Dave
My router logs every connection, and my isp logs my bandwidth usage, so by combination of the two and a little bit of brain work it all becomes clear. You could probably spend a bit more on another router that will tell you exactly what is going on, but i've never felt the need.
My router logs every connection, and my isp logs my bandwidth usage, so by combination of the two and a little bit of brain work it all becomes clear. You could probably spend a bit more on another router that will tell you exactly what is going on, but i've never felt the need.
I use a 5 db gain antenna when in hotels .. usually get a few free connections. In fact using netstumbler around henley and southend I get aroudn 50% of connections wide open... In fact default !
You do realise that people could be using your 'free' service for activities that you would get arrested for !!
Secure ... only way to go
I watched that on BBC3.... they hacked a "secure" network that had been secured with a WEP key using "freely available software downloaded from the internet"
With that in mind, how do you make your wireless more secure?
I use WPA with a huge MoFo of a hex key! - Which I have been led to believe makes my wireless far more secore than WEP
With that in mind, how do you make your wireless more secure?
I use WPA with a huge MoFo of a hex key! - Which I have been led to believe makes my wireless far more secore than WEP
meeja said:
I watched that on BBC3.... they hacked a "secure" network that had been secured with a WEP key using "freely available software downloaded from the internet"
With that in mind, how do you make your wireless more secure?
I use WPA with a huge MoFo of a hex key! - Which I have been led to believe makes my wireless far more secore than WEP
With that in mind, how do you make your wireless more secure?
I use WPA with a huge MoFo of a hex key! - Which I have been led to believe makes my wireless far more secore than WEP
WPA and MAC address ... You'd really have to be determined to try to break that one .. And for what ? the ability to surf pron on someone elses connection ...
For some reason I couldn't get WPA to work, probably down to the old built in wifi in the clunky laptop.
So I use WEP, MAC address filtering and I've also disabled the "wireless SSID broadcast" which will stop the likes of NetStumbler seeing the access point. From here I can currently see 4 APs not including my own, which is hidden (correction 5 a new one just popped up) 2 open and three WEP encrypted.
A friend who travels around the country a lot usually checks his email while on the road by finding a large middle class nice housing estate which is bound to have a proliferation of unsecured access points. Interestingly too posh an area and people seem to know what their doing so it's all secure encryption and too poor an area and they can't afford 'puters.
So I use WEP, MAC address filtering and I've also disabled the "wireless SSID broadcast" which will stop the likes of NetStumbler seeing the access point. From here I can currently see 4 APs not including my own, which is hidden (correction 5 a new one just popped up) 2 open and three WEP encrypted.
A friend who travels around the country a lot usually checks his email while on the road by finding a large middle class nice housing estate which is bound to have a proliferation of unsecured access points. Interestingly too posh an area and people seem to know what their doing so it's all secure encryption and too poor an area and they can't afford 'puters.
SSID shouldn't be seen as a security mechanism as such, but it is good practice not to broadcast it.
WEP is crackable by any 10yo these days. WPA is only crackable by brute force, and a long key will make this take so long as to be unfeasable.
WPA2 has, so far, never been cracked, so is the way to go.
Mac address security is also a good thing.
WEP is crackable by any 10yo these days. WPA is only crackable by brute force, and a long key will make this take so long as to be unfeasable.
WPA2 has, so far, never been cracked, so is the way to go.
Mac address security is also a good thing.
guydw said:
SSID shouldn't be seen as a security mechanism as such, but it is good practice not to broadcast it.
WEP is crackable by any 10yo these days. WPA is only crackable by brute force, and a long key will make this take so long as to be unfeasable.
WPA2 has, so far, never been cracked, so is the way to go.
Mac address security is also a good thing.
I'm not an expert but after playing around with the functions/settings that work on my hardware I believe I've done the best I can and there are at least five easier targets within range which make me a less likely target again. So I'm happy I'm secure enough. While you say SSID broadcast shouldn't be considered a security mechanism (which I agree with as it doesn't offer any encryption) It's got to make the network harder to hack if it wont respond unless you know what it's called?WEP is crackable by any 10yo these days. WPA is only crackable by brute force, and a long key will make this take so long as to be unfeasable.
WPA2 has, so far, never been cracked, so is the way to go.
Mac address security is also a good thing.
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