unsecure home wireless networks
I'm no geek, but our wireless home network is "unsecure". I don't want people mooching off of me for free internet.
wtf do I do to make it secure? our ISP is roadrunner. they tried to make it secure when they were out here setting us up, but they couldn't figure it out so they left it unsecure.
netgear MR814v2 router
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
the netgear router software should allow you to make a password to connect to the router...i have a linksys and it's fairly easly...check the help menu
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
I love people like you. I had free internet at my apt for the 2 years that I lived there. I had like 6 to choose from.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
it should be fairly easy. It should create a wep key for you just write it down and connect ... you should only need to enter it once per piece of equipment.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Quote:
Originally Posted by
I. Hustle
I love people like you. I had free internet at my apt for the 2 years that I lived there. I had like 6 to choose from.
my cousin moved into an apartment and turned on his wireless
shit load of unsecured :lol
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
I need for you to open up a command prompt and type
ipconfig -all
give me your ip and physical addresses
and I will secure your wireless access from you :tu
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BlackSwordsMan
my cousin moved into an apartment and turned on his wireless
shit load of unsecured :lol
Hell yeah. I loved it. I told my buddies they could bring their laptops when they came over and I would hang out by the pool and find a connection. My laptop picks up signals now in my neighborhood but they are all locked.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
ok to make it easy on you open up another tab in your browser and type in the address of your router/gateway. If you dont know it then use the command I gave you earlier to find out what it is....I am not sure if you know how to open a command window or not so if you dont click start-run and type in cmd
you will get a black pop up that is waiting for your input.
type in
ipconfig -all
write down your default gateway and type that in your internet browser....
it will ask you for a password to enter configuration mode of your router...this is different that the password to access it over wireless and in there you will find out all the options you will need to lock it down...
if you dont know something google it if it doesnt it explain it for you...but like someome else said, it would be easier for someone who is not really up to speed with wireless security to just download a wizard for your type of router and have it help you out along the way
good luck
and if we dont see you for three or 4 days we know it worked
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TwAnKiEs
it should be fairly easy. It should create a wep key for you just write it down and connect ... you should only need to enter it once per piece of equipment.
Isn't the default password usually something simple, like "password"? If your passphrase is any word, your network is incredibly easy to break into using a dictionary attack.
Even WEP encryption is still fairly easy for anyone of moderate computer savvy to crack by "listening" to your network (since it's wireless). If you do MAC filtering and WPA encryption together, you'll have a network secure enough that no one else should be able to listen in or join your network.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
mac filtering is prolly your best bet but dont forget that can be spoofed as well and also dont forget that you have it turned on cause one day down the road it will come back to bite you in the ass when you can get your new iphone to connect to your network or some shit
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Quote:
Originally Posted by
baseline bum
Isn't the default password usually something simple, like "password"? If your passphrase is any word, your network is incredibly easy to break into using a dictionary attack.
Even WEP encryption is still fairly easy for anyone of moderate computer savvy to crack by "listening" to your network (since it's wireless). If you do MAC filtering and WPA encryption together, you'll have a network secure enough that no one else should be able to listen in or join your network.
What he said.
Don't broadcast your SSID either. All the instructions for doing these things are in your router's manual. If you lost it or tossed it, you can get it at the Netgear site.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
wow, thanks for all the replies.
I started a support thingie with netgear, they have already replied once. Gave me the address to connect to for router config.
The address they gave me doesn't work, but at least they are helping me.
I need to learn about this stuff. Yeah, I know. I don't live in a great neighborhood, so I'm sure people around are enjoying my free web access...
according to netgear the default names are: admin for user & password for the password. My original ISP configured the router to be secure 2 years ago.
Then I changed to roadrunner a year ago, and they couldn't figure it out so they left it unsecure.
I probably have the manual around here somewhere, I'll look for it after the spurs game...
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DannyT
mac filtering is prolly your best bet but dont forget that can be spoofed as well and also dont forget that you have it turned on cause one day down the road it will come back to bite you in the ass when you can get your new iphone to connect to your network or some shit
I've never read any RFCs at anything further down the stack than the network layer so I'm not sure, but would the headers of the link layer frames (and thus the MAC addresses) between the access point and host also be encrypted by WPA? If so, you're not gonna get that MAC too easily to be able to spoof it.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
log into ur adsl modem/router and goto wireless settings, there you can set a access page for wireless clients, insert each MAC address of each computer or wireless card that can access the wireless link, then set a WPA-PSK password.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
ok, I got into the netgear router setup page, by typing the address in Start/Run...
1. my SSID includes my name. I guess that's what roadrunner set it as. can I change it without screwing up my internet connection? I don't want my name being broadcast all over the neighborhood. (it's set to "allow broadcast of SSID". Note - netgear support said that it should be set to allow broadcast.
2. WEP encryption is set to "automatic"
3. encryption strength is set to "disable"
4. I don't see anything in the router setup page about WPA-PSK. There is a section to type a phrase then generate WEP keys. It's currently all blank.
5. I am currently using my main computer, which is wired to the router. Should I be doing this router setup on one of the wireless machines (we have 2 wireless machines, and my son's xbox which uses my wireless router)? Do I have to go thru this router setup on every machine in the house, including the wired ones?
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Good passwords should be at least 8 characters long, preferably 10-12. Also, you should either make it a passphrase (the first letter of each word in a phrase) or a word that isn't in the dictionary or a family member/favorite team/etc.
Example of a bad password - RouterPassword!
Example of a good password - D0n'tF0rg3tTh1s!
Example of a better password - Iutp2$mR*
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Bender, you should be able to set up your router for DHCP which will automatically hand out addresses to your home PCs (and anything else you plug into it.)
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bender
ok, I got into the netgear router setup page, by typing the address in Start/Run...
1. my SSID includes my name. I guess that's what roadrunner set it as. can I change it without screwing up my internet connection? I don't want my name being broadcast all over the neighborhood. (it's set to "allow broadcast of SSID". Note - netgear support said that it should be set to allow broadcast.
2. WEP encryption is set to "automatic"
3. encryption strength is set to "disable"
4. I don't see anything in the router setup page about WPA-PSK. There is a section to type a phrase then generate WEP keys. It's currently all blank.
5. I am currently using my main computer, which is wired to the router. Should I be doing this router setup on one of the wireless machines (we have 2 wireless machines, and my son's xbox which uses my wireless router)? Do I have to go thru this router setup on every machine in the house, including the wired ones?
You don't have to have your SSID broadcast. There should be a way to set up your PC so that you can manually enter in the SSID. That's much safer so you're not broadcasting your signal. They probably said to set it to broadcast because it's much easier for you to find the signal that way.
Security is always a tradeoff. The more secure you make it, the more work it is to set it up.
WEP sucks. Use WPA if you can instead. (WEP has strong keys, but the problem is that they don't cycle near enough, so by stealing a small amount of traffic anyone who had a small amount of knowledge could crack your key and get in.)
If you have more questions, feel free to ask. I know a decent amount (I'm a network tech in the military.)
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
got it 'secure' and working. It's actually pretty easy, as people here said. I wonder why Roadrunner couldn't figure it out?
Netgears online support was excellent. They even emailed this morning on xmas day me the steps to do. Thanks to everybody and LnGrrrR.
edit: I did what Twankies said... set up a 13-digit WEP key. Have already had my notebook recognize the new secure network and it prompted me for the key. Also, my son's xbox live - we re-setup the connection and it prompted us for the password. Both worked fine.
My wife's desktop is the last wireless PC to set up. I'll wait till she comes up to me and bitches about "HOW COME MY INTERNET DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE!!?"
I'll try the other 'better' methods as others suggested above... later.
Re: unsecure home wireless networks
the SSID i usually leave it normal, dont rename it to your name...or someone who knows you might know more about you then you thought.......start hackn into ur wireless. And there are programs out there that can hack into ur encrypted wireless....the avg, joe wont know this, but ur geek guy will.