I have an external cable modem hooked up to a Linksys Router/Switch which is linked to a Linksys Wireless bridge so that I can access my internet connection wirelessly from my laptop anywhere in my home. I could not get it to work properly with the WEP so I turned that off. This would allow access to my broadband connection to anyone near enuf with a wireless network card (or so I’m told)
Question:
How do I detect whether or not someone has accessed my internet connection?
Is theres some kind of software that displays how many users are on a wireless network?
Other than activating the WEP key, how can I prevent unauthorized access?
Once I detect an unauthorized user, how can I bump him off my network?
Set a “strong” SSID (something like t^28@#FS) as a first-line defense.
Enable MAC filtering - only those computers you’ve specified will be able to access the network.
Don’t forget to set a strong password on the WAP’s administrative account.
Other than looking at “Network Neighborhood” now and then, you can’t easily tell if someone’s on your network. It’s easier to keep intruders out than it is to hunt them down and disconnect them.
I don’t have a solution, but I am having the same problem with my Linksys set-up. It works great until I enable WEP and then I can’t get on the internet with my laptop. I get a signal, but when I open my browser - nada.
I have something to add here. First, setting a strong SSID is only going to help if your “Allow Broadcast SSID to associate?” is set to NO.
Also, Network Neighborhood can’t be relied upon to show you who is connected to your network. Often, only machines with File or Print sharing enabled will show up. If you have one of the web-configurable Linksys access points, there should be a table in the config page that shows who is connected.
The setup to activate WEP on the bridge is to give it a phrase that can generate the key from. I cant set up that phrase in the wireless PC card on my laptop. The signals good but no communication. I’ve had pretty good luck with the tech support with linksys up until I tried this wireless setup. after that , it was near useless.
I turn off my bridge and cable modem when I dont use them. I figure the random nature by which I use the internet would deter them on weekdays but my kids penchant for Counterstrike on the weekends leaves me vulnerable.
I can set up the WEP key, and enter it successfully, and get a signal - even right next to the AP, and it shows up as Very Good. But when I open my browser or attempt to connect to email, I get nothing. So I turned all that stuff off. I did download the user guide (more in-depth than the quick start guide that came with the AP) and as soon as I have the time and patience to dig in and figure it all out, I plan to do that.
I got frustrated the last time I tried to turn on WEP, I ended up having to reset the router and reinstall and configure EVERYTHING.
Don’t use the “generate key from passphrase” option, or whatever it’s called. Think up a key directly and enter it by hand. All equipment/software doesn’t have the “generate key from passphrase” option, so it doesn’t actually save you any work (and causes trouble for people who don’t understand what it’s doing). The key you think up should be in one of these four formats:[list=a]
[li]5 ascii characters (i.e. “thing”)[/li][li]10 hex characters (i.e. “12345ABCDE”)[/li][li]13 ascii characters (i.e. “somethingelse”)[/li][li]26 hex characters (“0123456789ABCDEF0123456789”)[/li][/list=a]
(In case it’s not clear, “hex characters” means numbers from 0-9 or letters from A-F)
In case you’re curious, the first two keys have equal security strength (40 bit, sometimes referred to as 64 bit), and are just alternate ways of providing the same information. The 3rd and 4th keys are similarly the two ways of specifying 104 bit (sometimes referred to as 128 bit) encryption.
I usually try to choose hex keys, because I’ve run into pieces of hardware that didn’t allow me to specify ascii keys, and I’d rather not have to reconfigure my network if I am forced to use one of those. So if I were you, I’d come up with a random 26-character long string of hex digits, write it on a sticky note, and tape it to your access point clearly marked "104-bit WEP Key (hex): " so you don’t forget what it means later.
To eliminate one further piece of confusion: many config programs give you 4 spaces to enter WEP keys in, and this confuses the heck out of people. Just set your key index to 1 and enter a key in the first blank. The other 3 are just so you can switch between up to 4 keys without having to re-type them. Your network only has 1 key.
Sadly, my answer to three of your questions is “I don’t know.” My friend has a wireless router (Linksys), and I believe there’s a display for all wifi connections, but that’s hardly good in your case.
I do however, second the recommendation to Enable MAC filtering. That’ll restrict your network to only those specific cards you want. Of all the things you can do to prevent unwanted access, this is the top. It has the added advantage of being a one-time setup deal, and is independant of whatever you do with your laptop.
And if I’ve decoded the arcade Linksys URLs, you should be able to do it as listed here.
