Open Wireless - good or bad idea?

vedwards

Hi boards,

sometime ago I suggested to my club to be pro-active and get Eircom to make our club a Wi-Fi hotspot. They decided instead to installed a standard wireless router with open or un-secured wireless access within the clubhouse. I presume that this may be accessible in the car park but at present I haven't check the range.
I've read the wireless FAQ's and it's scary.

I don't think that there will be too much traffic or hordes of members littered around surfing as it's a private members club.

What dangers should I be aware of?

mehmeh12

vedwards wrote: »

Hi boards,

sometime ago I suggested to my club to be pro-active and get Eircom to make our club a Wi-Fi hotspot. They decided instead to installed a standard wireless router with open or un-secured wireless access within the clubhouse. I presume that this may be accessible in the car park but at present I haven't check the range.
I've read the wireless FAQ's and it's scary.

I don't think that there will be too much traffic or hordes of members littered around surfing as it's a private members club.

What dangers should I be aware of?

No having a completely open wifi network is 100% safe-just so long as no one minds having their data read while in transit by anyone else. That and pedophiles using your network for nasty ****. Other than that and your good to go.

eddhorse

You could change the wireless passphrase every month and give it our to whoever needs it.

As the other poster says its people looking at nasty stuff on the internet that could get your ISP involved along with the Gardai etc.
That will leave your clubhouse responsible!

vedwards

Thanks. I'll speak to the manager tomorrow about securing the access. Using an alternating pass-phrase might be the answer