Network protection

[colinB]

The people who live in my building keep showing up in my network connection even though i phoned sky and changed my router password and its stressing me out.
I dont know if its the crappy sage router that sky gave me that only has WEP security or if its these smart bugger teenagers but i having buffering issues with iplayer i didnt have before and im ready to KILL SOMEONE!

[northwest]

Buy your own (decent) router and go here: http://techtalk.n3tlab.com/2010/01/sky-router-password-generator.html

Get your username/password configure your own firewall.
All done.

[colinB]

Nice. Thanks for that.

[maxrob200]

Unfortunately WEP can be cracked easily using air crack tools available readily on the Internet. If you use WPA2 and hide the SSID of your router it will be much more secure

[StanleyB]

Most decent routers have a page where you can specify the IP and MAC address of the computers that are allowed to use your network. Use that to keep out the neighbours.

[bobbasrah]

Unfortunately WEP can be cracked easily using air crack tools available readily on the Internet. If you use WPA2 and hide the SSID of your router it will be much more secure

Absolutely, particularly the SSID broadcast as it prevents any new joyriders finding it, but WEP etc also depends on what level of security the devices have available which connect to the router... ;)
You can rename the SSID, make new connections for your kit, then stop the SSID broadcast, leaving the smartguys in the dark.....:doh:

Also, if your router has the facility to only permit access by MAC addresses on machines you use, that is also pretty secure, but makes it awkward if you want to add a guest temporarily at some point.... :scratch:
I have 5 machines set up this way to the old router for both ethernet and wireless (differebt MAC addresses IIRC), and no intrusions to date...:cool:

PS - Oops - Cross-posted on same subject Stan

[dave2010]

The people who live in my building keep showing up in my network connection even though i phoned sky and changed my router password and its stressing me out.
I dont know if its the crappy sage router that sky gave me that only has WEP security or if its these smart bugger teenagers but i having buffering issues with iplayer i didnt have before and im ready to KILL SOMEONE!I'm not quite sure what you mean by "showing up in my network connection" as this could simply mean they show up as available, rather than that they can access your network, or you can access theirs. If you do have evidence that they are accessing your network (relatively unlikely) then you should ensure that you have good WPA2 keys, and you can also set your router to hide your SSID. As mentioned, you can also black out devices other than ones you own, though for some people that can be a pain. Every time you buy a new device you'd have to enable it at the router, and your friends wouldn't be able to use your internet with laptops, iPhones or iPads, which may not bother you at all, but then when you want to do this you'll be puzzled as to why it doesn't work.

Really using Mac address filtering and hiding SSIDs are probably not worth it for most people, but do use wireless security (not WEP) and a good password.

Serious hackers will beat simple measures, such as MAC address filtering and SSID hiding, and if you think that anyone is trying to misuse your system then you might need to talk to the police and/or your ISP. Probably not worth getting the police involved unless you're sure though.

Otherwise just ignore your neighbours and don't worry about it. If you get interference from them, or slow connections, change the wireless channels. So, if you're currently on channel 6, change to 1 or 11. Tools such as Netstumbler will allow you to see what channels your neighbours are using, and also what their signal strengths are, so you can work out which way to change your channel. Although there are up to 14 channels IIRC, not all of them should be used in the UK, and the channels overlap anyway on many wireless systems (thought not on 802.11a) so it's best to use channel numbers which are +/- 5 apart as I have suggested.

[MartinT]

WEP is far too easily cracked. All they need is an automated tool and 15 mins. You need a router with WPA2K encryption. Not unbreakable, but I doubt that MI5 or the FBI want to use your wireless facility.

Most modern routers support WPA2K.

[Stratmangler]

I have had issues myself with one of the Squeezebox Touch units we have here at home - one is wired, the other wireless, and for whatever reason the wireless one will not make a connection if the SSID is hidden.
I can tell the Touch that the network is there, and I can enter the network password, but the damned thing won't connect.
If I change the SSID to be broadcast then it works with no issues.

Go figure :scratch:

[StanleyB]

I have the same problem with my wireless Iomega media player. I ended up buying a Wi Drive DX-325 but that doesn't work correctly with the MediaMonkey database.

[dave2010]

WEP is far too easily cracked. All they need is an automated tool and 15 mins. You need a router with WPA2K encryption. Not unbreakable, but I doubt that MI5 or the FBI want to use your wireless facility.

Most modern routers support WPA2K.WEP - 15 minutes! That was years ago. Anyone who calls themself a hacker should be able to crack it in a couple of minutes or less.

As you say, WPA2 is the way to go. Sometimes one might be forced to use WEP in order to work with older kit, but no-one who wants to keep a secure system should do this.

[dr.jones]

As someone else has stated, simplest way to stop others joining is to disable SSID being broadcast and configure the MAC address list of allowed devices and disable any others - most routers have this facility.
Pain to do in the first place but basically stop any new device (unless they managed to spoof one of your devices MAC addresses and this is highly unlikely) to join your network.

Just means you have to manually add all your devices one at a time, then add any new ones as you need to.

I'm pretty sure they've proven that even WPA2 can be cracked easily given long enough now and due to the fact they live nearby they could leave it running through until it cracks it quite easily.

[dave2010]

The post here which mentions rainbow tables gives some clues - http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-786297.html

On balance it seems that WPA2 is hard to crack if you use a hard password i.e not your girl friend's name or your birthday. However it does look as though rainbow tables make life easier for hackers, and they seem also to depend on the SSID. One message from this is to change the SSID to something unusual, and maybe if you're paranoid, change the SSIDs periodically. Hiding the SSID doen't really make a great deal of difference though, as hackers can probably find them quite easily. What having different SSIDs does is slow them up a lot, as it takes time to create the rainbow tables. Don't leave the SSID at the default manufacurer's setting - that's just like leaving the keys outside the door.

[MartinT]

Ultimately, you can't beat someone really determined. However, a combination of hiding your SSID, using WPA2K encryption and using Mac address registration for your devices will slow them down and probably make them go find other low hanging fruit.

I make do with WPA2K and don't get paranoid about it. A regular check with logged in devices in my router shows that no-one is interested.

[mike1210]

I would recommend against SSID hiding see below it can make security worse

http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2008/02/08/non-broadcast-wireless-ssids-why-hidden-wireless-networks-are-a-bad-idea.aspx

Only decent security is WPA2 with a long password, make one here:

http://www.kurtm.net/wpa-pskgen/