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Author Topic: Wireless Networks / Routers Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-21-2004 01:41 PM                        Wouldn't that be like saying that you just bought a new car and didn't know how to drive it?  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-21-2004 01:52 PM                     Scott, I don't think many consumers are likely to be willing to upgrade firmware with tftp. There's nothing wrong with running an open wireless network, as long as you understand the risks. Many people do it deliberately. Friendliness and openness and all that. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Mike Williams Master Film Handler Posts: 255 From: Knoxville, TN Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-21-2004 01:53 PM                     quote: Scott Norwood Wouldn't that be like saying that you just bought a new car and didn't know how to drive it? I don't think so. Using the car analogy, I think it would be like saying "I bought a new car, but did not know that my neighbor's kid was joy riding in it at night when I was asleep."  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-21-2004 06:52 PM                     quote: John Hawkinson There's nothing wrong with running an open wireless network, as long as you understand the risks. Many people do it deliberately. Friendliness and openness and all that. This is a pretty good marketing tool for certain kinds of businesses, such as coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores and any other place geared to attract a more technologically oriented (and likely more affluent) crowd. I was amazed that free WiFi hotspots were popping up in places like new rest areas along Texas highways. What isn't smart is when someone is running their home computing network behind an unsecured wireless router. Anyone with a notebook computer could drive around neighborhoods in just about any city and find unsecured routers and full access to computers behind the routers.  |  IP: Logged David Yauch Expert Film Handler Posts: 206 From: Mesa, AZ, USA Registered: Oct 2004 posted 12-22-2004 11:02 PM                     I agree with bobby. And if you don't secure your network, at LEAST put a password on all of your network files. Another option is to leave it unsecure, wait for some activity that isn't your own, and then run outside with a shotgun and chase off the perp. Either that or throw a bunch of files with names like "credit card numbers," "banking account numbers," and "porn site passwords" in your documents folder, making sure they are thoroughly virus ridden first...  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-23-2004 03:07 PM                     Some of us believe in securing our endsystems so they're not vulnerable to network attack. If you grow dependant on a firewall, you are eventually doomed to failure. Someone will plug in another machine on the network with virus, or crack the encryption on your wireless network, etc. You are inevitably doomed to fail. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-23-2004 05:47 PM                        Indeed, because nobody would ever attack an unencrypted connection.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-23-2004 09:35 PM                        Agreed completely with jhawk. Your systems should be set up in a reasonably "secure" fashion regardless of what sort of packet filter is (or isn't) between them and the rest of the world. Thus, the real concern with open access points isn't one of intrusion, but rather one of misuse of one's network connectivity (e.g. to send out spam, attack remote hosts, or do any number of other "bad" things for which a typical ISP would kill your account).  |  IP: Logged Scott D. Neff Theatre Dork Posts: 919 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Oct 1999 posted 12-24-2004 02:38 AM                        Thanks to everybody for their replies. I've been too busy Christmas shopping to dick around with the silly router since I posted. The issue that sounds most likely to be the problem would be the firewall situation. I am running the McAfee personal firewall+ program that came with my compy, so that's probably one evil I need to root out. Hopefully tomorrow I can figure it all out. Merry Christmas everybody.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-24-2004 10:52 AM                     I guess I wasn't clear enough in my point. The problem with most unsecured wireless access points is that most computers behind them have low levels of security. You can wardrive around town and find at least a few computers with shared level access and be able to see and alter the contents of the hard disc. Jhawk is right that a firewall inside a router is not enough. There's at least several different things users should be doing to protect their machines. The most basic steps for any WindowsXP machine should be controlling or removing any shared level access from the machine on the network, having a software firewall running to control data leaving the computer and having updated anti-viral/anti-spyware software. Most WindowsXP users simply use a single login with full administrator rights. I don't agree with that practice. It's a lot better to have an admin-level login to only use when you're making alterations to software or accessing sensitive data. Use a more restricted login for everyday/casual use.  |  IP: Logged

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