Not sure what you’re refering to here, but what more could be said other then it makes sense to lock ones door and shut it all down (or secure it) because it’s PR’s property they should be concerned about, and he/she is paying for the internet service, and not to mention libablity for unauthorized internet usage? It seems like that’s a good idea all by itself and should be encouraged.
I’m sorry, but you ought to be. What if Mr. Chester was outside your home browsing Myspace for kiddies under your main IP? Uh oh, guess who the authorities are going to think did it? :eek:
A friend who left a door unlocked suffered pretty severe damages to her phone bill (via an internet site) and her academic career. I don’t want to mention the details as, sadly, there are those who’ll say, “Keen!” and do the copycat thing. We got both things fixed, but 'twasn’t easy nor even fun, and it certainly wasn’t quick.
We recently got a wireless router. I logged on to the wireless router site at 192.168 whatever and., because we do the banking, etc on the internet, wanted a secure site so I changed it to WEP but then it asked me for a network key.
Where do I get that? Now I’ve got a secure connection but I can’t use it because I can’t find the darned key!
First - use WPA if your router supports it (WEP is breakable).
You then set your Wireless router up with a key - a long random string of digits. It should be confirmed by entering it a second time. Write the key down, stick it in an envelope and seal it. Also, stick it in a text file on a USB stick, too. Search on Google - there are sites that generate random keys for you.
Change your SSID from the default. You can turn off SSID broadcasts, to hide the network (write the SSID down, too).
Set a password on your router to something only you know. Write this down, too.
Once you have the router set up, set up wireless networking on the PC. Enter the SSID (if it is hidden) or scan for it. Set the authentication to be the same as the Router. You will be asked for the WPA key. Enter this, and you should connect.
Put all the written documentation somewhere very safe. Delete any copies of the key, SSID and router password that you stuck in a file on a computer/usb stick etc.
Si
How good is Previously Shared Key security?
My parents have a wireless router (property of my brother); last month I set up security on the router to use PSK. I convinced my father to use a fairly lengthy key. My laptop recognizes the key just fine; his will recognize the key but won’t save the network settings.
While we’re on the topic of wireless routers – where I live, I can see about a half dozen wireless routers, and some of them are even secured. As far as I can tell, they’re all on the same 802.11 channel. How big of an interference problem is this? (I intend to upgrade my home connection Real Soon Now ™, and if I spring for my own wireless router I probably want to be on a different channel.)
WPA-PSK is fine (as long as you keep the key safe and secret). I am surprised that a PC is having trouble with keeping the key. There is a patch for windows to install WPA - maybe reinstall that.
Yeah - try for a different channel. They can interfere. Apparently our microwave affects our wireless network, not sure what to do about that.
Si
Hi: thank you for your help. The problem seems to be that I’ve changed it to a WEP but seems to me the box was checked where it says “this key will be provided for me”…so now what do I do? I can’t access the secure part without a key? Also my son runs on the same router and obviously he can’t access either.
I wish I knew more about computers…would the original key be on the cd I got from the router people?
When I set up WPA-PSK, I verified that the router was set to accept administrative access only from the host machine. So I’m reasonably sure that compromising the key will require compromising the computer itself.
Thanks for the tip about WPA patches. I’ll pass that along.
Use the “I will type in the key option”. The option you checked is if you have corporate infrastructure that “serves” you a key. Actually, running windows XP, you can use the wireless network setup wizard, and it will lead you through this.
:smack:
Time to change the combination on my luggage!
I’d recommend using something a bit more non-sequential - a password like that would be very vulnerable to a brute force attack. I agree with Joey P , though, that you should use a passphrase that’s not easy to guess.
It’s also important to note that both WEP (which ought to stand for Weak Encryption Protocol) and WPA are broken fairly easily by knowledge and minimal persistence. But, if you’ve got signs of physical entry in your room, I guess you have bigger fish to fry. Perhaps a nice MEDICO lock on a 2" thick steel door with 8" anchors.