AlanHo Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 I have a Netgear wireless router connected to my desktop computer so that I can use my laptop on the internet anywhere in the house - or garden.When I look at the available networks on the laptop - I can see my home secured network, one other secured network but additionally a varying number of unsecured networks. Sometimes only one - at other times up to three. The unsecured network that is normally open provides such a strong signal that I really could manage without my own broadband connection - though I appreciate this is illegal. I bet some people would not be so scrupulous.I feel that I really ought to advise my neighbours with unsecured networks of the risks they are running - but am not sure what radius they are likely to lie within. Any ideas...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Just the same thing near me.There are up to ten wireless networks within range of me being able to pick them up, six of those are unsecured and four are of sufficient signal strength for me to be able to run my Internet from without me having my own connection. One of them is sometimes a stronger signal than my own.I have told one of the people who I'm sure has one of these systems but all I got was a shrug of the shoulders. I don't know who the other people are but I had a notice placed in the village notice board box. I hasn't made any difference though.There is, apparently, a way of connecting to these errant systems to tell them they are being foolish but, quite frankly, I can't be bothered. If they are stupid enough to leave there Internet available for all and sundry to pick up, they deserve all they get.My son told me that in most parts of the urban countryside, it is quite easy to run your laptop Internet from you car using other people's wireless systems. I'll take his word for that- I don't have a laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Similar experience here, 4 networks visible, 3 were unprotected, one was even sharing his C drive with the world as I found when trying to find why my network kept playing up, one day after they'd just had it installed.Their access point was closer to my laptop than my own access point, since been sorted, they've now got wep enabled.However as an experiment I cracked my own network key within 40 minutes whilst I was downloading Knoppix earlier today.I make sure my keys are used in rotation and the wireless network switched off when not required.A heavy downloader/faster connection is at greater risk than a light user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted April 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 mark 2Thanks for your interest - I am a very newbie when it comes to networks and don't have a clue about network keys etc or how you could see someones C drive. When I installed my netgear router I simply followed the on-screen instructions and activated the encryption provided without understanding what I was doing.Pops intimated that it is possible to contact the owner of an unprotected wireless network to warn them of their sins.From where can I obtain this info so that I can wake up my neighbours...?Simple ABC please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cozofdeath Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 I agree with pops. I think most know they are just to lazy to setup the security. I used to have security setup until I was doing some troubleshooting and had to keep reseting the router and each time I would loose my config so I just stopped setting it up. I check every once and a while to see if anyone is using it. I it really works both ways because if I do see someone using it I'm going to sniff their data. Most cases people probably won't be savvy enough to sniff mine they only want the broadband. I actually had a neighbor who had better speed on my connection then me but I sniffed his traffic and found out some, well very, interesting stuff. You'd be surprised what people lookup. After getting his yahoo info I downloaded yahoo IM and message him and told him all kinds of crazy stuff. The guy was so shocked, not to mention the girl he was staying with. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Alan,The only time I connected to their system, they'd set up their windows 'c' drive as shared on the network, r/click 'C' > sharing and security tab.I was trying to find out why I couldn't access my desktop and so went through resetting my network places again, thus finding their pc on what I thought was my network, explained to them the risk they were taking (documents visible), set it up for them properly, haven't had a problem since :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 I have a Netgear wireless router connected to my desktop computer so that I can use my laptop on the internet anywhere in the house - or garden.When I look at the available networks on the laptop - I can see my home secured network, one other secured network but additionally a varying number of unsecured networks. Sometimes only one - at other times up to three. The unsecured network that is normally open provides such a strong signal that I really could manage without my own broadband connection - though I appreciate this is illegal. I bet some people would not be so scrupulous.I feel that I really ought to advise my neighbours with unsecured networks of the risks they are running - but am not sure what radius they are likely to lie within. Any ideas...?Any form of encryption is better than non at all. So as long as you have something, you are at least secure to a point. What type of encryption you have is ultimately your weakness. There are many forms of encryption and choosing the best one is all you can do. Most older types of wireless devices support WEP. This is broken encryption and it can be compromised; but of course you need to know how to do it and also have the correct tools. WEP can be broken by sniffing the packets as they go over the air so your router has to be active for WEP to be broken. There are tools that will tickle the router for it to send data even when the computers connected to it are turned off. If WEP is all that is available then use it...on the other hand if there is an alternative [newer devices] then ditch WEP and stamp on it.A higher form of encryption and one that ideally everyone should be using is....WPA. This does everything that WEP should have done! To actually crack WPA only requires one packet. However cracking it would take years. But WPA is only good if you have a good password! That's to say, no dictionary words, birth dates, important days...A good password, a stong password, is one that is unique [one that has not been created]. Plus a great password is one that is totally random! Ahem Click HereSo use WPA with a strong password and never be scared!Similar experience here, 4 networks visible, 3 were unprotected, one was even sharing his C drive with the world as I found when trying to find why my network kept playing up, one day after they'd just had it installed.Their access point was closer to my laptop than my own access point, since been sorted, they've now got wep enabled.However as an experiment I cracked my own network key within 40 minutes whilst I was downloading Knoppix earlier today.I make sure my keys are used in rotation and the wireless network switched off when not required.A heavy downloader/faster connection is at greater risk than a light user.If you were using WEP then that explains it.If you were using WPA then your password was not strong enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Stole this from someone's blog WPA-PSK may be vulnerable to a brute force attack but, with the choice of the right password, it becomes unfeasible.Assuming a decent utility is used, a 31 character long password of random upper- and lowercase letters and numbers results in 62^31, or 3.7x10^55 possible combinations.If we assume 60 attempts per second, it will take more that 1.3x10^36 times the age of the universe (15 billion years) to attempt every possible combination. The average time would be half that, or 6.5x10^35 times the age of the universe.Even if someone were to come up with a scheme that reduced the bruteforce time to 1 trillionth of what would be required otherwise, it would still take 6.5x10^23 times the age of the universe. And so on...Unless someone find another way to get the password (e.g., can determine from traffic (like with WEP), beats it out of me, hacks my laptop, etc.), my WAP will remain secure until long after I'm dead.And that's good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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