Mr_Clean Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Hi all,Just wondered if you could help me out as i am not good with all this computer stuff.I am on a wireless internet connection and i saw a program a while back about people sitting outside someones house and using there internet connection.I was just wondering how do i protect it that know one can use my internet. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synergy Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 you can add a password to you network so they cant join unless they know it, or only let specific wireless cards join the network, not sure how to do these but i know it can be done so maybe look on net ? i would but im at work and cant stay on long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poopipe Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 As an absolute basic measure . turn on WEP (128 bit) - you'll have to set passwords or keys for people to join your network. How it works depends what cards/router you have - I have kcorp stuff so its a simple password - my old cisco stuff used extremely complicated keys. WEP is a bit shite but it will prevent the casual user stealing your bandwidth and credit card details. It won't protect you from somebody who's serious.You should really be running WPA as well - it's a better security jibber than WEP and is much harder to bust open. If you aren't at least running WEP and you've been buying stuff online, you will be robbed blind at some point. ( I know all about this cos my mums a recently retired network security person for BT)As well as all this you can usually allow only specific wireless cards to talk to your router/access point. Somewhere in the router settings it will have a MAC address table. You can usually get the MAC address of your wireless card by looking in it's settings. This isn't 100% because you can fake your MAC address but anybody who's trying to sneak in would have to know a valid MAC address in order to copy it. tada! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Yeah, what ^^ said is pretty much what I was going to say. You don't really need to worry about people sitting outside and using your internet connection to check their emails. You DO need to worry about someone stealing your credit card info though. You NEED at least WEP to prevent this. If you can use WPA, use that, although some older hardware is not capable of using WPA. So WEP will do. To enable that, you'll have to go into the router's settings (either read the manual or google, but it'll be something like 192.168.0.1 (type into IE/firefox)). And then you'll have to set a password for WEP and then you'll have to copy the key it gives you into the settings on your computer for your wireless card. Other things you can do are mac filtering (stops other randomers using your connection) and hide the SSID (this means that it's hard for other people to "see" your wireless network). Also change the SSID to something less obvious. E.g. if it's set to NETGEAR or something, change it. All this will be in the settings for the router. Make sure you know what you're doing before you change anything, and preferably have a cable ready so you can connect to the router directly if (when) you mess up. If you turn on wireless security but get it wrong, then you won't be able to log into the router and you'll have to do a hard reset and lose all your settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Clean Posted March 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Thanks for the replies it all sounds a bit complicated to me so ill get one of my mates or someone who knows what there doing.some lad was telling me that he had a program that he could use (something to do with wifi) and it picks up signals and that he could get into any computer with wireless networking.Is this true?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 some lad was telling me that he had a program that he could use (something to do with wifi) and it picks up signals and that he could get into any computer with wireless networking.Is this true?.Probably not... But yeah, there is software about that will pick up signals and allow you to connect to other people's network. Even with WEP, anyone with enough time can get in to your network. But unless you are running really crap software, he won't be able to get "into your computer". Although he probably means that he's just got some scanner that picks up networks and points him to the best one and connects or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 If you see a white, Renault Clio Be-bop outside your house, with someone sitting in it with some kind of glow next to them, that's Alan, and yes, he WILL be downloading porn on your wireless connection. Don't believe me? Ask Mat "Accomplice" Hudson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 some lad was telling me that he had a program that he could use (something to do with wifi) and it picks up signals and that he could get into any computer with wireless networking.Is this true?.Yeah, the programs called ethereal. You need to know how to use it though.. but its not difficult once you know so he may well be telling the truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Oh, and: Rhythm Otter says:http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=72593&st=0&gopid=889268&Scimitar says:fannyScimitar says:the perfect crimeScimitar says:tell that guy its pretty much impossible to hack a wpa-pak encryped wireless connection (it can be done but takes multiple computers and u need to capture an authorised machine logging on and its f**king well hard!)Wait, there's more: Scimitar says:i didn't say fannyScimitar says:Rhythm Otter says:Swear filters: Just Say NoScimitar says:wpa-psk not pak (typo sorry)Rhythm Otter says:Latest in the Drunk thread:Rhythm Otter says:PORING MYSELF SOPME WHISKEYIM GONNA GET DRUNKPOURING MYSEKF SOEM WHIIIIIIIIIIIISKEYGONNA GET REALL f**kIGN DRUNKf**k girls, seriosuScimitar says:also you can tell him wep is pretty f**king easy to hack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinky Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 If a cracker is serious in gaining access to your bandwidth and details they will, there's nothing in the current market that can protect against that especially for wireless. Some of the measures above will help deter most, but unfortunately even script-kiddies* can get around those. Just be wary, i doubt that anyone could be arsed to do it to be honest *script-kiddies = people who know F-all about hacking cracking but preted they do and use scripts (they dont even understand) written by reall hackers to do the job for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 As a minimum id enable mac address filtering. I sat in a friends living room a few weeks ago and connected to 3 wireless networks from his neighbours. None of which had any kind of restriction on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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