How Secure is Virgin Media Wireless Network?

RealGem

I am getting a Virgin Media Wireless Superhub soon and looked at their instructions, and it says it's WPS, but all the info I have found on secure networks say that it must be a WPA or (better); a WPA2 connection.

So is a WPS the same as WPA or WPA2 please?

Also, the instructions seem like a lot to do. Does this mean I can easily get it wrong and be left with an unsecured network?

thanks a lot

Darksun

WPS is a technology used for easily setting up wireless security, not a security method itself.

WPA2 is now standard, so I'd be very surprised if whatever equipment Virgin supplied doesn't support it.

edgex

WPS is how the security operates in practice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Setup

it isnt the security protocol


the Virgin Media Wireless Superhub is in reality a badged Netgear box, & if they havnt made any changes, it should support WEP, WPA & WPA2

jayme1

yeah the super hub has all the encryption settings and is as configurable as any other stand alone router, for all intents ignore WPS as that is an easy way to connect devices to the router using a button on the router and a PIN,
if all your devices support WPA2 AES PSK then you can set the router to that only, if some cannot do WPA2 and can only do WPA you can set it to WPA Auto which will choose the best your device can support.

if you want you can look at all the settings in the super hub in this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MJ0-5KokYg&hd=1 as you can see wireless encryption is painlessly simple to set up with more advanced options for people who want it easy to access.

the router will also come pre set up with the wifi protected and all the SSID, PSK written on a sticker on the router but I would say change the PSK and the SSID to something else (the PSK as long and as random as possible)

WhiteChristmas

Here's a wee security tip.

You are always told to use as random a password as possible to maximise your security, but no-one can remember random strings of numbers and letters, right?

Wrong.

We've all got a favourite song. Take the initial letter from each word of the first couple of lines. Capitalise names. Even better if you can use numbers where numbers appear or as substitutes for "I" or "to", or symbols like "&" for and.

Say your song is "Maggie (When You and I were Young)"

I wandered today to the hill, Maggie,
To watch the scene below -
The creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie,
As we used to, long ago.

1wt2thM2wtsbtc&tcomMawutla

Even one half that length is pretty much unhackable before our sun burns out!

RealGem

Thanks a lot everyone.

If it is standard to have WPA2 does that mean that it is not possible to find unsecured networks anymore?

HappyIdiotTalk

WhiteChristmas wrote: »

Here's a wee security tip.

You are always told to use as random a password as possible to maximise your security, but no-one can remember random strings of numbers and letters, right?

Wrong.

We've all got a favourite song. Take the initial letter from each word of the first couple of lines. Capitalise names. Even better if you can use numbers where numbers appear or as substitutes for "I" or "to", or symbols like "&" for and.

Say your song is "Maggie (When You and I were Young)"

I wandered today to the hill, Maggie,
To watch the scene below -
The creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie,
As we used to, long ago.

1wt2thM2wtsbtc&tcomMawutla

Even one half that length is pretty much unhackable before our sun burns out!

I use lyrics as they are rather than picking the first letters of each word. Then add a couple of numbers and special characters to the end, as well as capitalising the first word like this:

SERIOUScallersonly11??
ITSsofunnyhowwedonttalkanymore00..
ITSthatspecialblendandroast!11

According to Microsoft, these passwords are STRONG and for me are easily remembered. Check your horribly insecure passwords here:
https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx

jayme1

RealGem wrote: »

Thanks a lot everyone.

If it is standard to have WPA2 does that mean that it is not possible to find unsecured networks anymore?

I dont know what your asking but if your router is set to WPA2 if someone withing range of your wifi searches for any wifi, they cannot connect to yours because they dont know your PSK.

tbh you only need to enter your network password into a device once so I just use the super long super random method and just have it written down, which is a perfectly secure way to save your password anyway.

RealGem

jayme1 wrote: »

I dont know what your asking but if your router is set to WPA2 if someone withing range of your wifi searches for any wifi, they cannot connect to yours because they dont know your PSK.

tbh you only need to enter your network password into a device once so I just use the super long super random method and just have it written down, which is a perfectly secure way to save your password anyway.

thnaks Jayme

Sorry, what I meant when I said;
"If it is standard to have WPA2 does that mean that it is not possible to find unsecured networks anymore?"
was: a friend of mine told me that several people in his street did not have a secure network, as they showed up on his PC, but surely that wouldn't happen if the general standard was WPA2?

Maybe he was talking about a few years ago, or exaggerating to prove a point - (that I need to be careful).

thanks

jayme1

yes it is important to have a secured network

if the default was to have a secure network then yes unsecured networks would become harder to find, but if your wifi was secured and nextdoors was not your computer would find both, at which point you would have to make sure you only connect to your secure one., but there will always be some people who disable the security because they dont know better.

the number one reason why you should secure your network is that it prevents someone/anyone using your internet connection for very illegal activities that the police or otherwise can trace directly back to you.
the 2nd reason is if you are connected to or have an unsecured network anyone can read what you are sending from your computer, such as bank details/passwords, also they can access your computer and generally are able to use the unsecured network as their own such as access shared folders.