We have a small, 4 machine wireless network in our house. I have one domain - the “Home” domain. This morning when I decided to map a network drive to my laptop drive, I noticed there’s another domain showing up when I choose “Map network drive” then “Browse” to choose the shared folder. There’s something called Tlc, with one machine underneath called nnazarko-nu4.
WTF? What IS this? I have no clue. How did it get there? How do I get rid of it? This is BAD!
Did you set up your wireless system will the default passwords, IP addresses, accounts and domain information? It appears someone else with a wireless system may have tapped into your system.
I suggest you start from scratch and reinstall your wireless system, including different passwords, IP addresses, accounts and don’t use “home” as the domain.
Ah, the joys of wireless networking…
First, let me guess that you don’t really mean a Domain, but instead, a Workgroup. Running a domain with a 4 machine network is unlikely (feel free to correct this assumption).
My guess is that what you are seeing is your neighbors machine, which synced to your wireless network. And your right, that is bad, particularly if you have enabled file and print sharing (which I would suspect you have).
What you want to do, minimum, is to make it difficult for anyone else to connect to wireless network. You don’t mention any of the specifics of the wireless network, so I will also assume it is an 802.11B network.
These networks are notoriously insecure (and also quite convenient, as I am using one myself). Right out of the box, they are configured to make it as easy as possible to allow folks to connect to it.
802.11B includes a number of features are part of the protocol that can help, and most vendors of 802.11B equipment have added some proprietary security features.
Generally, you should visit the manufacturer’s website of the 802.11B access point, look in Support, and search for “securing the wireless network”, and follow their pointers.
At minimum, I suggest that you enable WEP encryption with preassigned static keys. If the vendor supports it, you should also use MAC address filtering to limit access to only the wireless cards you own.
Now, neither of these will make your network secure, it will just make it more difficult for someone to “accidently” connect to your network. If an malcontent really wants access to your network, and that concerns you, you will have to do more than the above.
Your options here get more complicated. You may first consider an authentication solution (used to “logon” to your wireless network). Depending on the vendor, this may require a separate program (an authentication server). You might also consider using VPN technology, but this will likely require a separate VPN device, as well as a VPN client on each of the four machines.
If you want to post the Brand and Model of the wireless equipment, as well as your level of security required (and budget, if any), I could try to give you more specific pointers.
It’s a DLink 714P+ router. And yes, I’m talking about workgroups, not domains.
I’d like a moderate amount of security. It’s not like we have mission critical data that absolutely cannot be seen by other people’s eyes. I would like to make it so that nobody can easily log on.
I’m looking at the adminstration stuff right now; in addition to our 4 machines, there’s 5 other logins that I don’t recognize.
I’m looking at the adminstrator’s UI right now. Looks like I should easily be able to set up WEP and MAC filters. Hopefully this will do the trick - I’m going to have to wait for a bit to do it, though, because the hubby is working and a network interruption would be bad right now.
It may not be your wireless. Are you using Cable or DSL for internet access? You can often see your real neighborhood in your Network Neighborhood.
Another question - if I set up MAC filtering and WEP, can I turn off the firewalls we have running on our systems?
Enable encryption on your wireless LAN.
So if your not a complete paranoid, I suspect you will find MAC address filtering and WEP encryption sufficient to protect you.
As you appear to be aware, enabling WEP encryption will “break” existing sessions. So you need to be on the “wired” network to make changes. So first assemble all of the information you will need - go to each machine and collect the wireless MAC address. If it is a PCMCIA card the MAC address will be printed on the card. If the wireless is in use, you can go to a DOS prompt and type “IPCONFIG /ALL” (Win2k or XP, use WINIPCFG for Win98) and find the MAC address in use with the wireless adapter. Make a list so that you can enter them all at one time. Note that you will need to add MAC addresses for any NIC using the “network” as well.
Choose a WEP key strength. With your Access Point, it supports 64, 128, and 256 bit keys. Personally, I’d go with either 64 or 128. You may see a performance problem with 256, and if you just want to discourage a casual trespasser, 64 or 128 will be sufficient for that purpose. See this link for specific instructions. Of course, you will need to enable WEP encryption and load that key into each wireless adapter.
Once you have added all of the MAC addresses, you can also enable “Shared Key” authentication. For some strange reason, DLINK has put this option on the “Performance” page.
Also, be sure you have changed the administrator password on your Access Point.
Disclaimer: MAC filtering will prevent “accidental” connections to your Access Point, but if someone wants, it is not real difficult to collect a MAC address in use on your network, and then use that hijack that address when it is not in use otherwise. Likewise, WEP encryption has been broken, and free tools exist on the Internet to crack the keys you will be using (longer keys just make this process more time/resource intensive).
Yes and no. MAC filtering and WEP encryption does precious little in terms of firewall. Your DLINK includes some decent firewall features, but it can’t do anything about undesirable connections initiated from WITHIN your network (but does just fine blocking stuff initiated from out on the Internet). See the other recently bumped thread currently active in GQ on DSL security for more opinions.
This should be sufficient for your purpose. Good luck.
Thanks, cowboy! That was VERY helpful!