The number of threads about piggybacking on other’s networks recently, along with the fact that I just got my wireless card fixed and my home network reestablished, got me thinking.
How secure is it, really? Right now, I have the wireless router config’d as an access point. I have the MAC address restrictions turn on so only my roomates’ and my laptops are allowed. Does this still work now that DCHP is turned off on the access point? Can hackers (my evil neighbots! :eek: ) still download music on my account and get me sued (I swear, your honor!)?
I tried to use the WEP encryption today, but it was causing weird connectivity problems, so I turn that off.
Your network is not safe. There is software (AiroPeek by Wild Packets is one) which will let me record the traffic, showing me what MAC address and IP address I need to use to impersonate one of your machines.
I think that on 802.11, I can even get away with using your MAC while your machine is still using it. I need to guess an unused IP, but that’s pretty trivial if I see some sample packets and you actually have unused IP addresses on your network (which most people do).
If I can’t get away with using the MAC at the same time as you, then I need to wait for a quiet time on the network or perform some sort of denial-of-service attack on your machine to make it shut up for a while.
In short, turn WPA on if you can. If you can’t use WPA, at least use WEP.
From your other thread, I recall you’re using a Netgear 614. I have the same model set up in the same way you do (access point, not router) but I think mine is a bit newer than yours (v5). It has an option for WPA-PSK (where PSK means pre-shared key). You can enter a long alphanumeric string as a key for the WPA encryption in the router. Then you have to set up the wireless connection to use the same PSK. In my setup, this worked seamlessly with no problems whatsoever. I can’t say (and no one else can either) that this is absolutely safe and uncrackable, but it’s a great deal more secure than the default setup.
By the way, I think neighbots is appropriate in this case. You’ve coined a new term for my trojan-infected friends.