Wireless internet

firebird1

We have a wireless Gigabyte Aircruiser wireless router, and I ofton find I can not connect.
I can see I have good signal, but no data throughput.
I have enabled the WEP and this works O.K.,
I was suspicious that there is a person in the small cul-de-sac who was able to work out what the WEP key was, and this was the reason I was finding it hard to connect.

Yesterday was the last straw, connection was so very, very slow.

i went into my Aircruiser config. with a ethernet connection and did a couple of alterations, in the hope this will stop the intruder. If there is one !

Firstly I "hid" my SSID.
Then I enabled MAC access only.
I got the 2 MAC addresses (ethernet and wireless) from the 2 laptops in our house and entered them.

Low and behold, the connection looks like it is super quick again.
And, touch wood, I can always connect.

So, just how easy is it to find a WEP key, with programs like "Airsnort" etc.
Graham

sco0ter

If its a neighbour and they have a good signal and you download a lot from the web then about 6 hours should do it.. Hiding SSID and MAC address filtering wont really help if he has went to the trouble to get the wep key then those things will be no problem to bypass

espresso

Does your router not support WPA encryption? Hiding your SSID and MAC address filtering do nothing for security, especially if you have already been hacked.

firebird1

Oh I see.
So, how will he gain access to the aircruiser if he don't have the correct MAC.

can he simulate / fake a MAC so to gain entry ?

Blacksheep1979

yup you can spoof a mac address vvvvvv easily.

You should maybe undo what you've just done, get a record of the other mac addresses (not yours) using it and call the cops - people have been done for what he's doing and it would quickly put a stop to what he's doing and dissuade him from trying again.

espresso

firebird1 wrote: »

Oh I see.
So, how will he gain access to the aircruiser if he don't have the correct MAC.

can he simulate / fake a MAC so to gain entry ?

If they have captured enough data to get your WEP key they already know your MAC address as it's transmitted in every packet of data. If your router does not support WPA, buy a new one if you want to be secure!

Charis

Does your wireless set up give you the option of only allowing certain users (defined by you) to use your broadband link? It might only be obvious if you go to the manufacturers support pages.

Mine (Thompson Speedtouch 780 wl) is so efficient that it wouldn't even let my nominated users in without a bit of fiddling about, but is now working fine and I'm more than happy with it. I have Win XP, Vista and Apple all working happily on it.

Charis

sco0ter

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

yup you can spoof a mac address vvvvvv easily.

You should maybe undo what you've just done, get a record of the other mac addresses (not yours) using it and call the cops - people have been done for what he's doing and it would quickly put a stop to what he's doing and dissuade him from trying again.

Only thing is unless its the laptops built in wireless then all he has to do is pull out the card and hide it.. Also unless you have directional finding equipment it would be close on impossible to find out what house its coming from. I can see 7 routers from my front room but have no idea where they are.

firebird1

espresso wrote: »

If they have captured enough data to get your WEP key they already know your MAC address as it's transmitted in every packet of data. If your router does not support WPA, buy a new one if you want to be secure!

,
,
,
It looks like it does have WPA, but it is "greyed" out.
Is this because I am using the WEP.
is it a case of one or the other, but not both?

sco0ter

You can only select one type of security at any one time.. Both pieces of your equipment must support it as well

firebird1

I can do a search devices, and the only two MAC comming up belong to the one's in our house.

Maybe now I am paranoid, and no-one is actually using my wirless outside the house?