Is Your Wireless Network Secure?

stuartk

How do you know if someone is using your WIFI network?

Wireless networks are great and allow us to set up networks quickly, easily and without the hassle of physically running cables etc.

However wireless networks need to be secure from outside / unauthorised users otherwise people can use your network for their own malicious intentions. An example of this is people using your wireless connection to connect to the internet and download illegal content. And if your internet connection has a download limit and other people are downloading from your connection then you will be billed for this. Worse still, people can then join your network and "browse" the contents of your computers quite easily. It is amazing the amount of networks we see that are totally wide open to the world. As it is your internet connection it is your responsibility. In our recent survey of of residential areas in towns around North Lanarkshire we found that around 70% of wireless networks were unsecure and wide open to anyone.

So how can you tell if your wireless network is not secure?
In XP:
Open Control Panel > Network Connections > View Network Connections >Right Click your wireless adaptor and select View Available Wireless Networks. If your wireless network is listed as Unsecured as shown then other people can use your internet connection.

In Vista:
Open Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Then select Manage Wireless Networks (top left) > Now any wireless networks that you can connect to should be listed as shown. If your wireless network is listed as Unsecured as shown then other people can use your internet connection.


Or you can use a Freeware program such as Netstumber to identify security issues or identify unsecure wifi networks.
So how do you secure your wireless network?
Well there are several things you can do so here are some basic security steps:

• Change the name of your SSID (wireless network name) from default to something else. For example a SSID named Netgear easily identifies your network and its hardware.
• TURN OFF SSID Broadcasting - Once you have all your required wireless clients / computers on your network, TURN OFF SSID broadcasting so that no one can see your wireless network.
• Change default router username and passwords. Most routers have the same, default admin username and password for admin / setup purposes. So all an intruder has to do is login to your router using the defaults and then lock you out.
• Use MAC address filtering - set which devices can connect to your wireless network by their MAC address. Use ipconfig / all to identify your MAC address.
• Use IP filtering or IP address reservations so that only those IP's can access the network.
• Turn OFF DHCP on your router and set IP addressess on clients manaually. DHCP is great and automatically assigns IP settings to your clients / computers. However if it can assign IP addressess to your clients it can also assign an intruder a valid IP address for your network.
• Use Port filtering / blocking to block ports you do not need open.
• Use authentication - either PSK or EAP - DO NOT LEAVE AUTHENTICATION OPEN.
• Use encryption to protect your data. WEP and WPA(2) are 2 types of encryption however WPA(2) is recommended.
• Set logon hours so that people cannot access your network out of hours or simply turn your router off especially with today environmental issues.
• Use a wireless network analyser such as Netstumbler (free) to test / analyse your network.

Using the above wireless network security steps will help protect your wireless network from unauthorised use and prying eyes.


Should you need help with your wireless network then please PM me and I can test, audit, monitor your wireless network

Lum

Good post, something that should probably be a sticky especially given the state of the typical home user wireless.

I do disagree on the MAC filtering thing, and the disabling of DHCP. Both are a massive pain in the backside to administer and are trivial for someone who knows what they are doing to get around. Anyone who can get past your encryption is going to know how to then sniff packets to determine what MAC addresses are allowed and what IP ranges you use, both of which are then easy to spoof, a lot easier than breaking WPA.

Sure they help a bit if you have an unsecured network, but it's much better, and simpler to just turn on WPA and secure it.


Anyway, I think it's story time now, my dad is the typical home user and recently put in a wireless network, he was well chuffed with it because it's so easy to set up, and now the laptops and his works PDA can all connect to it. I asked if he'd secured it, explained what that meant and surprise surprise he hadn't done so. I then explained to him the risks, not only of his data being stolen as mentioned in the OP but also someone looking to do something illegal would choose an unsecured wireless network to do it. Examples would be sending spam, breaking into peoples online bank accounts or downloading kiddy !!!!!!. In any of these cases the police are going to trace the activity down to your wireless router and investigate you.

So he agreed that I should secure him for it, I connect to his network which was called "linksys" with my laptop, google the default password for his Linksys router, log in, set an SSID for him, hand him my laptop to set a new admin password and a WPA2 key and then start to connect his devices. Oh dear turns out he wasn't used to my keyboard and had managed to type the passwords wrong, twice, and now couldn't reproduce the typing error.

"No problem", says I, "we just go upstairs to the router and press the reset button, then start again". We go upstairs and what do we find. A Netgear router that isn't even plugged into the mains.

He was using someone else's wireless connection the entire time, and I'd just gone and locked that person out of their own network by accident. Oops, probably should've checked for that.

Still, could be worse, a few months ago I stayed in a hotel where there was an unsecure network nearby called "Belkin54g". A few days later someone (not me) had done this:

stuartk

Excellent

I understand what your saying about MAC / DHCP etc but the more defences the better

That last bit made me laugh lol

Marty_J

And on Mac OS X, click the AirPort icon in the menu bar, and if there's a padlock beside a network name, then it's a secured network:

Lum

stuartk wrote: »

Excellent

I understand what your saying about MAC / DHCP etc but the more defences the better

Yes, but it's kind of like having a bank vault, only once you get into the vault you then have to get through a wooden door with a cheap Yale lock.

The Yale lock is fine to keep out the average opportunist chav but the guy who just opened your vault will make short work of it in a couple of minutes.

If you don't add new devices very often, or have guests plug their laptops onto your network then I guess MAC filtering isn't really much of a problem, but if you do it's not really worth the hassle. It's certainly not worth having MAC filtering as your only line of defence as far too many idiot techs seem to think.


Oh and to continue this analogy. If you use WEP instead of WPA, it's like having that bank vault but someone screwed up and made the tumblers out of cheese.

mardatha

ok I know nothing of this at all, just went into control panel as instructed and found me, unsecured, and a BThomehub secured network. I live in a tiny village of 2 doz houses & most people have computers... but this was at 4.30 in the morning when I couldn't sleep.
Does this mean the person on the BT wireless thingy can get into my computer ? And can somebody tell me how to secure mine - slowly & in very short words ? LOL

stuartk

mardatha wrote: »

ok I know nothing of this at all, just went into control panel as instructed and found me, unsecured, and a BThomehub secured network. I live in a tiny village of 2 doz houses & most people have computers... but this was at 4.30 in the morning when I couldn't sleep.
Does this mean the person on the BT wireless thingy can get into my computer ? And can somebody tell me how to secure mine - slowly & in very short words ? LOL

hi there

if you are "unsecured" it means you are pretty much wide open to the world.

could you give as much detail as possible ie router make / model etc

please try to follow the instructions I posted above and if you need help PM me

regards

Lum

mardatha wrote: »

ok I know nothing of this at all, just went into control panel as instructed and found me, unsecured, and a BThomehub secured network. I live in a tiny village of 2 doz houses & most people have computers... but this was at 4.30 in the morning when I couldn't sleep.
Does this mean the person on the BT wireless thingy can get into my computer ? And can somebody tell me how to secure mine - slowly & in very short words ? LOL

Not just the guy with the BT HomeHub. He has his own wireless network and (presumably) an internet connection that he's paying for.

Your problem is any other person who has a laptop, PDA or PC with wireless functionality who is close enough to be able to see your network. Some people even like to drive along with wireless kit installed in their cars just scanning for unsecured networks and sharing their location on websites.

mardatha

Another mystery is that the BThomehub is not there now, was at 4.30am and isnt now !! As this is a tiny village of 2 streets and everybody knows everybody else and strangers in cars are noticed and looked at ( & interrogated LOL) I'm not too bothered but obviously this needs to be fixed. I buy all my computer stuff from a local pc shop & will phone them and ask them to sort this for me. Many thanks for this ! x
EDITED to add - if anybody else is using my wireless, can I see this? If so, how ?

mandm65

Slightly off topic butt related.
Can anyone recommend a good possibly freeware software for network monitoring/censoring unwanted websites for home network?

custardy

mardatha wrote: »

Another mystery is that the BThomehub is not there now, was at 4.30am and isnt now !! As this is a tiny village of 2 streets and everybody knows everybody else and strangers in cars are noticed and looked at ( & interrogated LOL) I'm not too bothered but obviously this needs to be fixed. I buy all my computer stuff from a local pc shop & will phone them and ask them to sort this for me. Many thanks for this ! x
EDITED to add - if anybody else is using my wireless, can I see this? If so, how ?

easiest way is look for a little '2 computers' icon in the task bar
right click
select connect ot a network
a box will come up showing all the networks available