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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Stealing Bandwidth


terribleturner

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Do you guys not use WEP or WPA security?

 

If you can, enable WPA/TKIP - far more secure than WEP.

Then turn off SSID Broadcasting, and turn on MAC address filtering, and limit it to just your MAC address(es) that you use.

 

Makes the network far more secure then.

Living in a block of flats I can see about 10 wifi networks - 4 of which are unprotected. By connecting to them, it would be possible to access the router setup page(s), and if they've left the default pwd's on (which most of them probably have) then you can change the password, and filter THEM off their own broadband!

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Other steps to secure network is to change the default IP address of the router to a random IP, switch off DHCP and give your machines static IP's, Block any ICMP or ping packets through the route firewall, make sure the router firewall is on and is set to HIGH... only port-forward for applications you need and use... etc

 

If you want to go the full-hog - and perhaps you are on limited download limit - turn the router off (or at least the wifi section) when you are not using it, or at work etc.

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Good advice there Pablo :)

 

There's 4 wireless networks around my house and mine is the only secure one. I managed to access 2 of the routers as they had defaults passwords.

 

Shouldn't complain, it means I've always got a backup if NTL goes down :innocent:

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Good advice there Pablo :)

 

There's 4 wireless networks around my house and mine is the only secure one. I managed to access 2 of the routers as they had defaults passwords.

 

Shouldn't complain, it means I've always got a backup if NTL goes down :innocent:

 

I wasn't going to say it on the forums - but what the hey!

 

I've been on 2 of the networks when mine has gone down - both had default pwd's on the router!

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Nice one pablo job done and erm my connection has just got alot quicker :D

 

Excellent mate - glad you sorted it :)

My connection would be a lot faster if the damn wiring in my flats wasn't 20+ years old :- Paying for an 2MB connection and only getting just over 1MB :(

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sound advice there about limiting the MAC addresses to the ones you use, then you know that you wont get someone else using it.

 

 

My cousin reckons that some guy in california actually got arrrested for theft for using someones wireless without their permission.

 

I have wifi on my PDA phone.. if you drive along with it it will tell you all the wireless networks as you go along and I am amazed by the number that are unsecured, are these people mad - I mean you could use someone elses IP for posting defamatory or worse stuff on the internet, and I guess the IP owner would be liable.

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I have wifi on my PDA phone.. if you drive along with it it will tell you all the wireless networks as you drive along and I am amazed by the number that are unsecured, are these people mad - I mean you could use someone elses IP for posting defamatory or worse stuff on the internet, and I guess the IP owner would be liable.

 

Even MAC address filtering doesn't fully stop them, if they know what they are doing.

Tools like netstumbler are used widely, and it can find networks whether the SSID broadcast is on or off.

 

Don't know if anyone's heard of it, but the term "war-driving" is where people drive around scanning for wireless networks in their area, and then marking (on a map) where all the unsecure networks are. Then, obviously, as a group effort, you can plot a map of the entire country for everyone to see, so that if they are in the area they can pull over and check their emails etc...

 

The most worrying thing, is that if the network is unprotected, 99% of people's data will be at risk of being copied/deleted/edited. There are default admin shares (C$ etc) on PC's, allowing anyone on the network to browse the contents of the harddrive(s).

 

Add to that the fact that Xbox's, and even tv set-top boxes now plug into the internet, and you could easily access any one of them!

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More likely ignorant. I bet 90% of them bought the wireless router from PCWorld, followed the installation wizard and have no idea they should do anything else.

 

Or lazy in my case :D

 

When I secured my network I couldn't log in its pain in the arse

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