Is your wireless router secure? Have you ever thought about it?

TimothyEBaldwin

JustPassingBy wrote: »

Ok, I'll go with this. Do you mind if I come in through your open gate and sit in your back garden in summer? My intention is enjoy the flowers you have on display.

That would be legal until I tell you to leave, besides you can't distinguish it from the neighboring public wood by looking at it. Likewise how is one to identify access points supposed to

So the onus is on people to secure their property otherwise the assumption is they intend to share?

No, it sufficient to make it look private, in the case of a wireless access point configuring MAC filtering would suffice to make it illegal for one to use it.

By your logic it would also be illegal to use any router, Teredo relay, 6to4 relay, Bittorrent client, or DNS server that advertised the availability of its services. Or any web server - did you ask Martin Lewis if you may use this website?

JustPassingBy

TimothyEBaldwin wrote: »

By your logic it would also be illegal to use any router, Teredo relay, 6to4 relay, Bittorrent client, or DNS server that advertised the availability of its services.

Those devices are known to be on a public network. The wireless access points we are talking about are known to be on private networks.

Or any web server - did you ask Martin Lewis if you may use this website?

Of course I did! Doesn't everyone?

Mr_Oink

JustPassingBy wrote: »

Those devices are known to be on a public network. The wireless access points we are talking about are known to be on private networks.

The pedant may say that they provide a connection to a public wan with a public IP address. BT Openzone on domestic 'home hubs' rings a bell here.

Also, I guess you could say that 'private' IP address space is really no different to 'public' IP address space. The key difference being they are not routed on public networks.

There are a number of laws that may be interpreted in different ways, but once persons unknown have plastered naked pictures of you found in /my pictures, taken all your documents & PST files, and used your Paypal account to buy a Harrier Jump Jet - it's a moot point

fitshase

I secure my router using a 22 character (letters and numbers) password for logging in.

I use WPA2-TKIP (AES) encryption with a 28 character random selection of letters, numbers and symbols (mainly done by closing my eyes and randomly banging the keyboard in Notepad and then copying and pasting to the router settings page).

Firewalls are all on.

SSID is changed from the normal factory shipped one.

Shares are kept to a minimum and are password protected with a different username and password.

All ports are showing as stealth on the ShieldsUp! test.

Router firmware is kept up to date.

Also, due to the construction of my house and the placement of my router, the coverage signal just about reaches the boundary of the property (detached house) which makes it more difficult for the casual drive by "hacker" to pick up the network signal.

lucylucky

taxi97w wrote: »

Originally Posted by taxi97w
I don't believe anyone should have to pay for what is a wave frequency. Who owns a wave frequency?- We all do. Do we really? And the same goes for electricity. If Tesla could have had his way, we'd all be on zero energy, free for all. But we are not. They purposely deny us zero energy so that they get rich and we get poor and trash the planet with pollution into the 'bargain', they being the government and their corporate buddies.
The law is basically about money, not morals.
These could be happier days, but not just yet, not until it stops being about money.

Yes we do and we are. But 'they' would have you believe otherwise.

I do I go about not paying "them"?

stevemcol

taxi97w wrote: »

I don't believe anyone should have to pay for what is a wave frequency. Who owns a wave frequency?- We all do. And the same goes for electricity. If Tesla could have had his way, we'd all be on zero energy, free for all. They purposely deny us zero energy so that they get rich and we get poor and trash the planet with pollution into the 'bargain', they being the government and their corporate buddies.
The law is basically about money, not morals.
These could be happier days, but not just yet, not until it stops being about money.

Sorry, when I posted earlier I didn't realise you were clinically insane.

taxi97w

lucylucky wrote: »

I do I go about not paying "them"?

Well I'm not paying them for the internet. And when I really get my act together, I won't be paying them for 'our' electricity either.

Have a quick look at this if you'd like some tips. It's from the US, but relevant all the same.

It's the one entitled 'How I Clobbered every Bureaucratic Cash Confiscatory Agency Known to Man, it's about 5th down on the list.

http://mayanmajix.com/art_dt.html

MarkBargain

Right, I've changed my encryption from WPA to WPA2, selected a 17-character long password, changed my router dial-in password to a simple but not default one. I have turned off "respond to ping on internet port".

Once my computers all remember the new connection I will hide the SSID.

There is a section for "block services". Can anyone recommend whether it is worth entering anything in there?

Also, I have UPnP turned on (30 minute advertisement period). Do I need that?

Thanks for the advice!

prowla

Mr_Oink wrote: »

WEP was cracked long, long ago - if you are still using it make sure the key length is 128 bits or above (but that alone will only slow an attack, not protect against one)

MAC spoofing is really easy, and it is really easy to find mac addresses of your wireless clients to 'borrow'.

Personally, I'd switch to WPA/WPA2 as the bare minimum.

People who get burgled often say 'It's such a nice area, you'd never think it would happen around here'. I suspect in years to come people will say similar things regarding the cracking of wireless in their neighbourhoods.

Mind you, securing the Wireless is all good and well - if people have the router web interface (or telnet) open to the internet then the wireless is the very least of their worries.......

Yes - I use 128-bit.
TBH, I'm just looking to make it difficult rather than impossible...

I might check out the other options anyway, now you've got me interested. Our router does WPA variants.

lucylucky

taxi97w wrote: »

Well I'm not paying them for the internet. And when I really get my act together, I won't be paying them for 'our' electricity either.

Have a quick look at this if you'd like some tips. It's from the US, but relevant all the same.

It's the one entitled 'How I Clobbered every Bureaucratic Cash Confiscatory Agency Known to Man, it's about 5th down on the list.

http://mayanmajix.com/art_dt.html

Can't see anything to tell me how to get free electricity.

How are you going about it?

How do you access the internet if you don't pay for it?

EDIT - just had a proper read through that document you link to.

Hilarious.