there is a new name on my wireless network list!

sleep2much

I can see about six, one of which is unsecure, handy to connect to if my isp goes funny, I can't see their computer just an internet connection, and no, I don't feel guilty tapping into it. There was a case in the newspaper recently where a bloke got nicked for tapping into somebody's wireless internet connection, I think he made it a bit obvious by sitting on their garden wall with his laptop.

noname123_2

One of my neighbours used to have an unsecured network using the same router I have. I could log on to the network settings thingy, I was quite tempted to set up some security for them...

BritBrat

One of my neighbours used to have an unsecured network using the same router I have. I could log on to the network settings thingy, I was quite tempted to set up some security for them...

That would be illegal, I would have just used thier bandwidth and pleaded ignorant if any one asked.

noname123_2

I was actually joking...

gtone28

The handy thing about unsecured networks is if yours has a problem you can piggyback theirs to fix yours, the thing to watch is you don't know your neighbours all that well...We just found out that a 44yr old gentleman in our neighbourhood was sentanced to 5yrs in prison for child sex offence's.

Just think if you leave your security wide open Anybody can abuse your IP address, and it's your address the police will knock at when they trace any ilegal activity.

by the way mine is secured

espresso

crispeater wrote: »

well i think im secure.. i have a padlock against mine and stewie doesnt whoever stewie is.

im lucky i can switch the pc on let alone have a fiddle with other people's systems lol

thanks guys

You should check that you are using WPA-PSK encryption and not WEP which can quite easily be hacked.

:eek:

chunter

i've yet to meet anyone who can hack wireless.
and surely this small group of people have better things to do
than hack into someone's home network.

Any sort of password encryption will keep out 99.9 percent of prying eyes.
sensational headlines should remain in the daily rags.

CHR15

Kind of true. Most neighbourhoods have families simply using the net for browsing, downloading etc.

There are however the curious and the simple Geeks around who (for no malicious intent) just want to have a play and poke about. These people are plentiful.

Wikipedia is a well known website and has all the answers to cracking a WEP encrypted network in a few minutes.

I knew this post was going to go off the rails! lol

I have WPA, a mac filter list and a disabled SSID broadcast on mine. Not because I am paranoid about peado's simply because I think it works and is simple to set up.

ormus

i can see 4 networks here on the lappy. 1 is insecure. i know all the neighbours enough to say hello. perhaps i should go around and show them how to secure it?

whilst its true enough that its unlikely anyone will hack a domestic system, it doesnt take that much knowledge to hack into most wireless networks.
the tools are freely available on the net.

Aiadi

Is it true that some people intentionally keep their WiFi unsecured for others to connect to and have their information and data stolen?