Wi-Fi cloaks a new breed of intruder (Turn on your router's encryption, people!)

St. Petersburg Times ^ | July 4, 2005 | Alex Leary

[Dont Mention the War]

By the way, WEP encryption is so lame as to be almost totally useless. Turn on WPA encryption instead.

[HAL9000]

It sounds like this guy was stealing bandwidth. The setting that would have prevented that is access control, not encryption.

[agitator]

Use WPA, MAC address authentication access, and don't broadcast your SSID.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

If you have a wireless network, and its not encrypted, you're just plain loopy. Might as well leave your front door open and post a large neon sign on your roof for all burglars: "This way to an easy entrance"...

[ex-Texan]

Could be a way terrorist might use to access the Internet. Can you imagine what would happen if Eschalon caught him using such terms as "nuke attack" on your wireless connection? Within 30 minutes you would be hearing loud knocking sounds on your front door.

[South40]

As I sit here now I see three other wireless networks. Of the three only one has security enabled.

[Sprite518]

I secured my wireless router with a password about a month ago. However, how do you do the WPA, and the SSID?

[Sprite518]

It is the same in my area.

[South40]

What type (brand) of router do you have?

[MrsEmmaPeel]

As I sit here now I see three other wireless networks.

Sigh. Wonder if these people leave the keys in their unattended car with the engine running while performing an errand?

[Sprite518]

Linksys

[Pro-Bush]

Airwaves are free game!!

[South40]

Sigh. Wonder if these people leave the keys in their unattended car with the engine running while performing an errand?

Probably. And when someone steals that car and uses it in the commission of a crime the police will come knocking on the car owner's door.

[Texas_Jarhead]

whatever you do don't transmit or advertise your SSID

[adam_az]

"A more recent threat to emerge is the "evil twin" attack. A person with a wireless-equipped laptop can show up at, say, a coffee shop or airport and overpower the local Wi-Fi hotspot. The person then eavesdrops on unsuspecting computer users who connect to the bogus network."

Actually it's a "man in the middle" attack.

[SDGOP]

Is echelon a real thing? or is that something they made up for Alias?

[HAL9000]

If you have a wireless network, and its not encrypted, you're just plain loopy.

Especially if you're running Windows.

I'm in a rural area on an 2.5 mile unencrypted WISP, so WAP, WEP, etc. are essentially useless for my type of connection. But I do use an encrypted VPNs and SSL tunnelling for some connections - and I'm on a Mac, so I'm not too worried about getting hacked.

The reality is that the traffic coming over the wire is more dangerous than the war drivers.

[miliantnutcase]

and then he steals all the porn from your shared folder!!!

[MaxMax]

I wonder how many people realize who is listening to their cell phone conversations.

And no, I'm not talking about the Gov.

[Tunehead54]

Bump for more info - I've got a DLINK DI-624 - Ideally I'd like it to ONLY respond to two IP addresses - with no encryption (slower) - Is this possible? Help!