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Old Aug 15, 2008 | 10:09 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by bpratt
MAC Address filtering will stop the casual surfer, and in all honesty there's nothing you can do on a cheap, home-grade 802.11 access point to stop a truly determined expert, so that's probably good enough.
Turning off SSID broadcasting, using MAC address filtering, and setting a long string of random characters for a WPA PSK can give pretty good security.

It's all about layers.
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Old Aug 15, 2008 | 11:18 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by soitgoes
On my Belkin config page, the security settings are in the 'Security' tab underneath 'Wireless' on the lefthand column.
Mine doesn't look exactly like that but I'll have a nose around when I'm not tired and ready for bed...

Originally Posted by soitgoes
Turning off SSID broadcasting, using MAC address filtering, and setting a long string of random characters for a WPA PSK can give pretty good security.

It's all about layers.
I've turned off SSID broadcasting and with the MAC address filtering I'm getting rid of the person who just turns on their laptop and latches onto the nearest unsecured network. There are enough unsecured networks round here that if someone wants to get onboard then they'll probably look elsewhere.
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Old Aug 15, 2008 | 11:26 pm
  #18  
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If you've got a computer always on, My Wife Zone is very effective.

http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/2064

If someone attempts to associate whom you haven't approved via either ip address, mac address, or both, they get a nasty "denied" page.

However, you'll need to hunt for version 3.0 which is free; current 4.0 version is paid.
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Old Aug 16, 2008 | 10:26 am
  #19  
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I solve this problem by leaving my wifi open, and closing all ports on my machines.

If someone wants a little bandwidth for a bit, I don't mind.

Plus, if someone traces questionable activity to my IP, I can say that it could easily have been someone else.
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Old Aug 16, 2008 | 12:09 pm
  #20  
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
I solve this problem by leaving my wifi open, and closing all ports on my machines.

If someone wants a little bandwidth for a bit, I don't mind.

Plus, if someone traces questionable activity to my IP, I can say that it could easily have been someone else.
That's a stunningly dangerous decision - speaking as a professional in the networking / communications industry. There's whole categories of "questionable activity" where the relevant authorities wouldn't even stop to listen to a defense like that (eg: the FBI "believing" that anything "terrorism-related" originated from that connection, to say the least); personally I'd be doing everything I could to keep people from getting to that stage.

Besides, how do you possibly benefit from that setup?
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Old Aug 16, 2008 | 10:28 pm
  #21  
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Originally Posted by star_world
That's a stunningly dangerous decision - speaking as a professional in the networking / communications industry. There's whole categories of "questionable activity" where the relevant authorities wouldn't even stop to listen to a defense like that (eg: the FBI "believing" that anything "terrorism-related" originated from that connection, to say the least); personally I'd be doing everything I could to keep people from getting to that stage.

Besides, how do you possibly benefit from that setup?
I have to agree, even though I suggested using MAC filtering alone to keep out the casual surfer. Personally, I've got all security turned off, but I have enough trouble getting a signal to my bedroom and guest cottage (lots of plaster and lath walls blocking signals) that I'm not too worried.
If someone really wants to sneak into my yard to get on my wireless network, I'll let my dog discourage them.

I wouldn't lose TOO much sleep over leaving my AP somewhat open, as the above poster's doing, but I certainly wouldn't go to all the trouble of locking down every PC while leaving the AP alone. Its just easier to secure the AP.

Bob
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Old Aug 17, 2008 | 2:32 am
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Originally Posted by cblaisd
If you've got a computer always on, My Wife Zone is very effective.

http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/2064
Is there a "My Husband Zone" as well?
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Old Aug 17, 2008 | 10:18 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by star_world
That's a stunningly dangerous decision - speaking as a professional in the networking / communications industry. There's whole categories of "questionable activity" where the relevant authorities wouldn't even stop to listen to a defense like that (eg: the FBI "believing" that anything "terrorism-related" originated from that connection, to say the least); personally I'd be doing everything I could to keep people from getting to that stage.

Besides, how do you possibly benefit from that setup?
I'm the guy with the stunningly dangerous setup.

You know, I've always run 128 bit WEP on my connection (my Tivo's wireless adapter doesn't support WPA) and decided, I don't really care if someone uses some of my bandwidth. So I turned WEP off, thinking it'd be good karma to share. But after a couple days of feeling insecure, I turned it back on.

I mean, paranoia check. What's the worst that can happen? Someone uses my connection to email al Qaeda or something - but the chance of that happening is infinitesimal. So really, big deal.

And yet, I still turned it on...
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Old Aug 17, 2008 | 1:22 pm
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
I mean, paranoia check. What's the worst that can happen? Someone uses my connection to email al Qaeda or something - but the chance of that happening is infinitesimal. So really, big deal.
That's probably the worst (at least in the US) but far more likely is your 16 year old next door neighbour who finds he can get a perfect signal on your wireless network and uses it to download child porn or something like that. These things happen literally every day. I just struggle to understand why you would turn off security when you already had it enabled - unless you have an extremely fast WAN connection it really has no performance impact.

Just trying to make a helpful suggestion
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Old Aug 17, 2008 | 1:52 pm
  #25  
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Originally Posted by star_world
That's probably the worst (at least in the US) but far more likely is your 16 year old next door neighbour who finds he can get a perfect signal on your wireless network and uses it to download child porn or something like that. These things happen literally every day. I just struggle to understand why you would turn off security when you already had it enabled - unless you have an extremely fast WAN connection it really has no performance impact.

Just trying to make a helpful suggestion
Yeah, I know. I vacillate between uber-paranoia and laisser-faire with the wifi. I not only re-enabled WEP but found the Tivo 802.11g adapter on Amazon for $40. This is the one that supports WPA, so when it comes I'll enable WPA. I've also disabled password access in Tomato, requiring remote ssh sessions to use key authentication.

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Old Aug 17, 2008 | 6:53 pm
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Originally Posted by ScottC
(Click Start, then RUN, then CMD, then at the prompt, enter ipconfig. For your Ethernet adapter, you should see an IP address like 192.168.1.2 (or similar).

Then, in your browser, try and surf to 192.168.2.1 (which I think is the I for all Belkin router config pages).
My first WiFi router was an Apple Airport. I just plugged it in and it worked. Then Vonage offered me a Belkin WiFi router to use with their service. I've hated it since the day I got it because of this stuff. If the cleaning lady has to unplug it for any reason I curse her under my breath.

Originally Posted by gfunkdave
I mean, paranoia check. What's the worst that can happen? Someone uses my connection to email al Qaeda or something - but the chance of that happening is infinitesimal. So really, big deal.
Not paranoia exactly, but Time Warner in Manhattan drives up and down the streets looking for open networks. If they find one, you might get a letter threatening to terminate your service if you don't lock it down.

Last edited by wiredboy10003; Aug 17, 2008 at 6:59 pm
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Old Aug 18, 2008 | 8:32 am
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Originally Posted by wiredboy10003
My first WiFi router was an Apple Airport. I just plugged it in and it worked. Then Vonage offered me a Belkin WiFi router to use with their service. I've hated it since the day I got it because of this stuff. If the cleaning lady has to unplug it for any reason I curse her under my breath.
You mean Apple Airport are not, or were not, configurable? I wouldn't use one if it isn't.
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Old Aug 18, 2008 | 8:39 am
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Originally Posted by DeafFlyer
You mean Apple Airport are not, or were not, configurable? I wouldn't use one if it isn't.
Sure you can configure it. You just don't have to memorize 54648.343684.164.194545 to do it. If you're happy with it as it is out of the box then you don't even have to do anything.
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Old Aug 18, 2008 | 9:30 am
  #29  
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Originally Posted by wiredboy10003
Sure you can configure it. You just don't have to memorize 54648.343684.164.194545 to do it. If you're happy with it as it is out of the box then you don't even have to do anything.
Right, you have to use Apple's proprietary software to configure it. Why they couldn't even use the standard web client approach like EVERYONE ELSE DOES is mystifying.

This is why I use my Airport only to stream music to my stereo.

Well, that and it's a bad router - drops connections a lot, slow throughput.
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Old Aug 24, 2008 | 10:04 am
  #30  
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OK, so I checked my security log and despite not boradcasting SSID and using MAC address filtering I've got this in the log which a quick Google suggests isn't too good.

Sat Aug 23 17:02:47 2008 : DHCP Client : Receive Ack from 68.87.73.12, Lease time = 345600
Sat Aug 23 17:02:47 2008 : DHCP Client : Send Request, Request IP = 71.197.4.219
Thu Aug 21 17:01:40 2008 : DHCP Client : Receive Ack from 68.87.73.12, Lease time = 345600
Thu Aug 21 17:01:40 2008 : DHCP Client : Send Request, Request IP = 71.197.4.219
Wed Aug 20 10:54:17 2008 : **TCP SYN Flooding** Source IP:192.168.2.68 Port:60131 Dest IP:83.195.16.79 Port:6881
Wed Aug 20 10:54:17 2008 : **TCP SYN Flooding** Source IP:192.168.2.68 Port:60130 Dest IP:83.81.75.155 Port:6881
Wed Aug 20 10:54:17 2008 : **TCP SYN Flooding** Source IP:192.168.2.68 Port:60129 Dest IP:97.117.11.62 Port:43360
Wed Aug 20 10:54:17 2008 : **TCP SYN Flooding** Source IP:192.168.2.68 Port:60128 Dest IP:24.163.201.73 Port:25770
Tue Aug 19 17:00:33 2008 : DHCP Client : Receive Ack from 68.87.73.12, Lease time = 345600
Tue Aug 19 17:00:33 2008 : DHCP Client : Send Request, Request IP = 71.197.4.219
So I had a look round and it seems My WiFi Zone 4 is free for download now! Just tried downloaded it and blocked my wife who got a bit worried for a second

Last edited by Fraser; Aug 24, 2008 at 11:18 am
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