I HATE COMPUTERS.........

[SNAKEBITE]

I went wireless at the end of last year and whilst it was fairly easy to set up I threw a spanner into the works when I hit the "encrypt" button on the box and the computer was not set up to recieve it :blink:

Anyway i worked it out. Then on Friday I thought i had done it again and have spent the last few hours trying to ix something was not broken before I was meddling with it, only to find I had messed it up whilst fiddling.

However as you can see I have now fixed the problem , and it was done without throwing anything around.

A lump of gaffa tape now resides over the "encrypt" button.

[Lord Geordie]

Bit of Tippex on the Encrypt button and write on it in BIG red letters!

 

 

 

 

"SELF DESTRUCT"

 

 

 

 

:blink:

 

LG

[darebear]

rearranging the letters in the french connection logo is more appropriate

[naddan28]

I went wireless at the end of last year and whilst it was fairly easy to set up I threw a spanner into the works when I hit the "encrypt" button on the box and the computer was not set up to recieve it

Anyway i worked it out. Then on Friday I thought i had done it again and have spent the last few hours trying to ix something was not broken before I was meddling with it, only to find I had messed it up whilst fiddling.

However as you can see I have now fixed the problem , and it was done without throwing anything around.

A lump of gaffa tape now resides over the "encrypt" button.

hmmm, so are you broadcasting unsecure wireless then or finally encrypted it? As if you are unsecure then at the very least hide you SSID so people can't see your network when scanning for it and also enable MAC address filtering.

 

May i ask how ur pc was not ready to recieve it :S? Surely if its got a wireless card it will at least support 64bit WEP?

 

You really want to secure it if you have not, as I have 3 "backup" networks all provided by my neighbours for free in my entire house! Quite handy really, I suppose if I was really mean I could actually wirelessly log on to their router change the password (as I VERY much doubt their password will have been changed from the default), enable MAC Filtering and WPA encryption and make their nice shiny routers expensive tin cans lol.

 

So Snakebite, I suggest you encrypt it quicksnap or if not set up a ethernet network. Not being a ****, just trying to help.

 

Dan

[young gun]

Yeah i'd get it encrypted it i set up my wireless network today and i've got my encrypted at 128bit WEP makes it much safer and stops people hacking into u're internt to get a free internet connecton

[SNAKEBITE]

Thanks for the advice and if I understood what the hell you are going on about I might do something about it!

[pin]

WEP, "Wired Equivalent Privacy", was meant to provide the same kind of security a wired network provides (ie to do something nasty you need to be 'physically' connected to it).

 

Since wireless has no physical connection to the network they had to use encryption to do this for them. Sadly the encryption algorithm (posh word for computer code) was fatally flawed and is totally insecure.

 

Anyone using WEP, regardless of key length (64/128 bit) isn't secure at all, its a trivial joke to break the encryption and use their network. This isn't the job of a skilled cracker either, there are freely available tools which any loony can download and use.

 

If you have wireless and you care at all about other people using your network, seeing your stuff etc, then you need to be using WPA "Wireless protected access", or WPA2 the newest variation.

 

WPA is actually still WEP (stay with me!) but gets round the flaw in WEP by working its magic on every single packet, so the flawed encryption key is only valid for one tiny bit for information and then it changes.

 

If anyone wants advice on securing wireless networks I will do what I can..

[naddan28]

Snakebite:

Hiding the SSID, basically means when your router is broadcasting wirelessly, it does not broadcast your actual network's name to other computers. So in order to access the network another user will have to actually manually configure their computer to connect to your network by actually knowing and typing in the network name.

 

MAC Address filtering, Every component in your computer has its own personal MAC address. So in your router if you tell it only to allow your MAC address, then anyone using a different piece of hardware will not be able to connect (even ethernet cables). This can be over ridden but a specialist job so unlikely to happen for you.

 

Basically what I was saying is I have very dumb neighbours who broadcast unsecured networks with defualt passwords on. Which leave's me should I so choose to actually lock them out completely from their own hubs. If they denied me access to the hub or even changed the password to something hard to guess I could not 'lock them out'. However, just changing the password on the router would still enable me to use their internet for free.

 

Hope that helps, any questions just ask.

[garyb]

A hidden SSID is no security measure. With the same tools that Pin described, I could find your "hidden" or "cloaked" SSID in 30 secs tops.

 

MAC filtering also dosen't offer much benefit, as again with the above tools I know exactly who is talking on the air and their MAC addresses, therefore I could pinch one, watch my time and gain access.

[naddan28]

A hidden SSID is no security measure. With the same tools that Pin described, I could find your "hidden" or "cloaked" SSID in 30 secs tops.

 

MAC filtering also dosen't offer much benefit, as again with the above tools I know exactly who is talking on the air and their MAC addresses, therefore I could pinch one, watch my time and gain access.

Yes gary, I did not describe hidden SSID as a security measure, but it does make it less accessable to joe bloggs for the general public. As most people do not use those tools! At the end of the day no wireless network is secure as WPA-SK (think thats the one with the radius server) is even crackable. Its just like your house really, its not burgular proof. All you can do is give it the best security to your ability, cash and in repsect of the actual contents in it.

[dazza]

[SNAKEBITE]

Nope, read through the replies twice and whilst it looked like English and the occasional word souned like English I think my computer is generating random nonsense instead of something I can understand!

[pin]

Yes gary, I did not describe hidden SSID as a security measure, but it does make it less accessable to joe bloggs for the general public. As most people do not use those tools! At the end of the day no wireless network is secure as WPA-SK (think thats the one with the radius server) is even crackable. Its just like your house really, its not burgular proof. All you can do is give it the best security to your ability, cash and in repsect of the actual contents in it.

 

WPA-PSK is what I think you meant, "pre shared key". That's only a pass phrase so its as crackable as anything that uses one factor authentication. Having a RADIUS server sat behind things adds nothing to security - its simply a convenient password store that brings complex access policy to the table.

 

Use WPA (or WPA-2), a strong passphrase (words, spaces, letters numbers and symbols), MAC filtering and change the default passwords on everything like your router, turn off DHCP and don't share things without a password. Configure the router to only allow packets out from the computers you know about, that's about all the average home user can do to secure a wireless LAN.

 

The only secure computer doesn't have a power lead in the back

[naddan28]

 

Yes gary, I did not describe hidden SSID as a security measure, but it does make it less accessable to joe bloggs for the general public. As most people do not use those tools! At the end of the day no wireless network is secure as WPA-SK (think thats the one with the radius server) is even crackable. Its just like your house really, its not burgular proof. All you can do is give it the best security to your ability, cash and in repsect of the actual contents in it.

 

WPA-PSK is what I think you meant, "pre shared key". That's only a pass phrase so its as crackable as anything that uses one factor authentication. Having a RADIUS server sat behind things adds nothing to security - its simply a convenient password store that brings complex access policy to the table.

 

Use WPA (or WPA-2), a strong passphrase (words, spaces, letters numbers and symbols), MAC filtering and change the default passwords on everything like your router, turn off DHCP and don't share things without a password. Configure the router to only allow packets out from the computers you know about, that's about all the average home user can do to secure a wireless LAN.

 

The only secure computer doesn't have a power lead in the back

 

Exactly Pin, the only way a computer is secure is when it is either off or no access to the outside world! But as pin said the average user can just turn on mac flitlering, a good encryption and then that will deter everyone. Even, people who can break it are hardly likely to bother. Whats the point? They will undoubtably already have a super computer with internet access so their is little or no reward in wasting their time breaking into a private network.