Why do we need Wifi security

[Eviltechie]

How come everybody is in a race to secure their networks? Is a simple 128-bit WEP enough to keep off your neighbors and the causal passerby? I could understand if someone was out to get you, but I doubt that most people are. I'm sure people could hack into my network, but why bother, my neighbor has an unencrypted network within range of my house. What is the big deal here?

[KeelBug]

Better to be safe than a sorry SOB whose got a huge internet bill from people stealing it :).

I assume you're talking about general public home WiFi and not corporate networks... :P.

[Eviltechie]

Yeah, if I was a corporation, I would have to deal with stock holders and trade secrets. I would definitely go all out on security there.

[KeelBug]

AD authentication in wireless seems to be pretty secure :).

Add RSA on top of that if you're mega paranoid.

[Eviltechie]

Well I'm not paranoid. Nor do I run a company.

[ax0n]

If several neighbors have wide-open WiFi, any WEP or WPA-PSK will keep the casual leeches away. If you have curious or bored neighbors, WPA2 with EAP might be in order. Or you can just run wide-open WiFi and sandbox it to where it can only hit OpenVPN or some other encrypted tunnel setup.

[dr0p]

Because my bandwith is mine. It would take someone very long to get into my network.

[DingleBerries]

Why secure your 802.11 Wireless Network

By DingleBerries

Now this is a story all about how my

Internet got flipped turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there

I'll tell you how I become the bitch of a man called Bubba

In West Manchester born and raised

On laptop is where I spent most of my days

Googlin' out, torrentin', trollin', all cool

And all chatin' to some girls on the IRC

When a couple of guys, who were up to no good

Started captuing' packets in my neighborhood

They cracked my WEP and dled one UNDER AGE CHILD PORN pic and my mom got scared

And said, "You're a pervert get out of my house."

They.. pulled... up to my house at about 7 or 8

and yelled through the door "Come up with your hands in the air!"

looked at my kingdom and it had all fell apart

Because I didnt secure my wifi and people downloaded CHILD PORN

[H@L0_F00]

Why secure your 802.11 Wireless Network

By DingleBerries

Now this is a story all about how my

Internet got flipped turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there

I'll tell you how I become the bitch of a man called Bubba

In West Manchester born and raised

On laptop is where I spent most of my days

Googlin' out, torrentin', trollin', all cool

And all chatin' to some girls on the IRC

When a couple of guys, who were up to no good

Started captuing' packets in my neighborhood

They cracked my WEP and dled one UNDER AGE CHILD PORN pic and my mom got scared

And said, "You're a pervert get out of my house."

They.. pulled... up to my house at about 7 or 8

and yelled through the door "Come up with your hands in the air!"

looked at my kingdom and it had all fell apart

Because I didnt secure my wifi and people downloaded CHILD PORN

hahaha didn't rhyme to well but great nonetheless

[Sparda]

No idea if this has changed, but government regulation for data security in the US and the Data Protection Act in the UK used to allow ROT13 as valid encryption algorithm. If the company lost loads of customer data and got Data protection Act'ed upon they would be in the clear until a expert witness turned up saying "ROT13 isn't encryption any more, not that it ever really was".

[Ingo]

Well, of course you don't neccecary need best protection if you live in low population areas, but I would suggest you use it non the less.

For live example I have used my neighbours unprotected wireless for torrents in past.

And whatever you do change your boxes default admin account and pass since some one can just lock you out from your own box (ofcourse you can just reset it, but just securing your connection is easier)

[Eviltechie]

Well the default admin password is changed. (and I don't know it) My dad changed it do block my internet once. (proxy showed him) So now I can't run any servers,

[Ingo]

Well the default admin password is changed. (and I don't know it) My dad changed it do block my internet once. (proxy showed him) So now I can't run any servers,

There should be reset button somewhere in your box and by pressing it for 10 sec box will reset to manufactor defaults

(most likely user: admin passwd: password)

Anyways this should help

[DingleBerries]

There should be reset button somewhere in your box and by pressing it for 10 sec box will reset to manufactor defaults

(most likely user: admin passwd: password)

Anyways this should help

Are you a troll? All post Ive read of yours sound like a.) youre a troll, or b.) you just learned how to use the internet.. Holding down a reset button isnt going to reset to manufactures defaults, maybe pressing f1-12 will(do not know the exact key COMBO) but nevertheless. I would lurk moar before posting again.. that way you do not look like a 12y/o metakiddy.

Anyways, that was a good site, always enjoy sites with default passwords.

[Ingo]

Are you a troll? All post Ive read of yours sound like a.) youre a troll, or b.) you just learned how to use the internet..

a ) I am not trying to troll

b ) "Learned how to use the internet"? =D

As in what? Learned how to use browser and post? Or what? Maybe I am little of the tracks here....

Anyways I guess I know how to "use" Internet... atleast above avarage.

Holding down a reset button isnt going to reset to manufactures defaults, maybe pressing f1-12 will(do not know the exact key COMBO) but nevertheless. I would lurk moar before posting again.. that way you do not look like a 12y/o metakiddy.

To be honest with you I have found that most boxes actualy DO reset when pressing that littele button with text "Reset" next to it, I don't know maybe it's just some new hip thing here in Finland, but meh works for me

Anyways, that was a good site, always enjoy sites with default passwords.

Well, glad my post wasn't complete b.s.

I'd like to say that I have done that site all by my self, but actually it's bit of a group effort from me and my friends (I just happen to be the one who used magics of "Save as HTML" and uploaded it)

P.S. I am not sure what I have done so wrong in my short stay here (maybe you are confusing me to someone), but I hope this won't come an issue in future.

[DingleBerries]

Reset will "RESET" a box... I.E. Turn the power OFF, then back ON. I think what you maybe thinking of is a HARD RESET, used by mobile device manafactures. Most computers have a partition that contains a restore image, saves them money on (broken)disk, so when you see the BIOs and press the correct f key you will in turn get to boot up into the restore environment. But i have not ONCE heard of a computer's restart key being held down in order to revert to default settings. Not trying to be mean but if you can CITE a source i will retract my statement.

[Ingo]

Dingle, we are having missunderstandin here (atleast I beleave so)...

I am not talking about computers here I am talking about the router, as I recall one poster said that he coulnd't get into his router since his father had changed admin pass word and most of routers have little reset button in bottom which do reset them to manufacture defaults thus reseting the boxs user and password

...and thats where that site I posted comes in.

[DingleBerries]

OHHHHHHHK. Now it makes sense. Since it was a misunderstand i redact my statement, however i still keep my +20 karma belt.

[Eviltechie]

Yeah, hitting the reset button will remove the password, and re assign the IP addresses in the house. That means the network printer and the tivo will likely stop working.

[geekdba]

Why secure your 802.11 Wireless Network

By DingleBerries

Now this is a story all about how my

Internet got flipped turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there

I'll tell you how I become the bitch of a man called Bubba

In West Manchester born and raised

On laptop is where I spent most of my days

Googlin' out, torrentin', trollin', all cool

And all chatin' to some girls on the IRC

When a couple of guys, who were up to no good

Started captuing' packets in my neighborhood

They cracked my WEP and dled one UNDER AGE CHILD PORN pic and my mom got scared

And said, "You're a pervert get out of my house."

They.. pulled... up to my house at about 7 or 8

and yelled through the door "Come up with your hands in the air!"

looked at my kingdom and it had all fell apart

Because I didnt secure my wifi and people downloaded CHILD PORN

Best use of the fresh prince song I have ever heard

[aeturnus]

Yeah, hitting the reset button will remove the password, and re assign the IP addresses in the house. That means the network printer and the tivo will likely stop working.

Likely not. If you just have a home router/switch (Linksys, Netgear, SoHo-style whatever) and your Dad or whoever properly configured those devices to deal with DHCP then you should be fine to reset the router.

And if it does, what did you lose? He'll just reconfigure it and you'll be out nothing.

[Joerg]

No idea if this has changed, but government regulation for data security in the US and the Data Protection Act in the UK used to allow ROT13 as valid encryption algorithm. If the company lost loads of customer data and got Data protection Act'ed upon they would be in the clear until a expert witness turned up saying "ROT13 isn't encryption any more, not that it ever really was".

Hmm, if ROT13 is insecure, maybe it will get secure by encrypting the data twice, I think I'll call the algorithm ROT26.

[Eviltechie]

Likely not. If you just have a home router/switch (Linksys, Netgear, SoHo-style whatever) and your Dad or whoever properly configured those devices to deal with DHCP then you should be fine to reset the router.

And if it does, what did you lose? He'll just reconfigure it and you'll be out nothing.

Yeah, but he will figure out and then take my keyboard away.

[Razor512]

even if you don't feel the need for a good security, think about this

the account holder is responsible for all traffic through their WAN

so if someone connects to your network and searched for child porn or something, then you will have the FBI knocking down your door

it is better safe than sorry

use WPA, use a password thats not in the dictionary and is longer than 10 characters or do what I do

get a password from here https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

save it to a text file so you don't have to manually type it into each wireless device

after that, delete the text file as the password will now be saved and it will auto login

some if the first attacks done are dictionary attacks as they are the quickest to do, but when it doesn't work , they resort to brute force, which pretty takes forever on the grc passwords

[digip]

@Pmmppfmpppffmfm - Mff pmppppppffpp ffmppffmf fppmpppffmpp pmmppfpmpmffpppmfm.

Hmm, if ROT13 is insecure, maybe it will get secure by encrypting the data twice, I think I'll call the algorithm ROT26.

That was sarcasm, right :) I mean, rot26 is going to spit out the input as is. I don't consider any rot encoding of any number 1 through 26 to be encyption any more than I do a crossword puzzle because thats about all it is. A childs puzzle. "Kenny Speak" is more secure than Rot encoding.

As far as the topic of this thread.

Why do we need Wifi security? - One phrase answer. "Back Track"!