Wireless

Bob Z

How can i make wireless more safe? Do i choose wpa psk or wpa 8.1.2? And does having a longer Encryption Key make much difference?

StopNotWorking

Off the top of my head.. WPA2+PSK is the highest setting on my router, I use that with a strong password and once every month or so I will checkk the router to see what machines are accessing it(how many mac addresses). I have never had any extra ones but if I ever do I'll just ban them from my network.

uch

Restrict connection by mac address then only specified mac addresses can connect

Bob Z

Ho do you check mac addresse?

StopNotWorking

What router is it? Netgear probably.

Go to internet explorer and in the address bar type in : 192.168.1.1
You may be asked for a username and password. Those should be defaults so enter "admin" in username and "password" for the password.

If you get into a big menu screen then tell us, we should be able to help from there.

Bob Z

its a netopia router( i hear they are very susceptible to hacking) I am able to get into the setting on a eircom page. On the left of the screen it gives you a couple of option Home Firewall Wireless Custom Services

Expert Mode Help

StopNotWorking

I'm getting confused between two different topics now..

Firewall will filter the mac addresses, so I imagine it also has the logs of what ones connect to it.

uch

Type IPCONFIG /All in a command prompt, and it will give you mac address

PaddyTheNth

WPA+PSK (WPA2 if your router supports it) should be fine. If you use a random password of at least 20 characters (using a mix of upper + lower case letters, numbers and symbols) you're safe from the published exploits iirc.

Don't get hung up on MAC filtering - it's not completely useless but if someone can crack your password they can spoof a MAC address very easily.

biko

MAC filtering and also WPA PSK (have a key 20 chars long) should suffice for most home use.

You can also use Enable Closed System Mode - if enabled, Closed System Mode hides the wireless network from the scanning features of wireless client computers.

marco_polo

PaddyTheNth wrote: »

WPA+PSK (WPA2 if your router supports it) should be fine. If you use a random password of at least 20 characters (using a mix of upper + lower case letters, numbers and symbols) you're safe from the published exploits iirc.

Don't get hung up on MAC filtering - it's not completely useless but if someone can crack your password they can spoof a MAC address very easily.

Agreed. The main thing to worry about is setting up the encryption with a strong key. If someone has cracked your WPA2 encryption then MAC filtering will not stop them.

Bob Z

If i pick a long password does it matter if its random letters or not? For example could i just enter 20 Q's? I have a wii and dont want to make the password to complex unless i have to

dub45

Bob Z wrote: »

If i pick a long password does it matter if its random letters or not? For example could i just enter 20 Q's? I have a wii and dont want to make the password to complex unless i have to

WPA2 and a long password should be enough. there is nothing to stop you entering 20Q's but dont forget you really should only have to enter the password once so its worth the bother to pick a strong one and keep a note of it somewhere with old fashioned pen and paper:)

humaxf1

turn wireless when not in use, especially when you are going away on holidays etc.