I’m currently residing with friends and just for the heck of it logged on to their wireless router to see what kind of settings were there and noticed there is no password set for the admin.
The system is set up as a secure connection in order to access the internet but I’m wondering if that in itself prevents someone outside just logging on to the router and wiping all the security settings.
I realize hacking a secure connection is possible but is it possible to log on to the router ip without doing that?
On my Netgear ADSL firewall router you have to enable the Remote Management option (found under Advanced Settings) to be able to do this - there is a stern warning to be sure to change the router’s password to a very secure one if you do this.
I would hope remote management is usually disabled by default.
If you are limited to only using one computer to access it, an admin password isn’t that big a deal. If someone has physical access to your computer, you’re already screwed.
Making a password in that case would be more akin to encrypting all you data, and keeping the encryption key with you. Not something most people do, although it is technically more secure.
If you’re using a less-secure wireless encryption method (i.e., WEP or WPA+TKIP instead of WPA2 with AES), there’s a chance people can crack your key, connect to your router, and access the admin interface that way.
Chance of it happening in real life? Probably small for the average home router.