Security over my wireless BB

Cyrus

I have ntl BB and im using a 3com wireless router so my sister can share my connection on her laptop, im guessing i should be securing it so the whole apt block isnt usin it??

how do i do this

cheers

masterK

The simplest way is to use MAC address blocking. You can configure the router to only allow certain MAC address access, have a look in your routers manual for instructions.

vibe666

not all routers support this though.

there are 4 main ways you can secure your wifi network.

1. WEP - basic security, but won't keep out a dedicated hacker with time to spare.

2. WPA - the newer security technology designed to cover the flaws in WEP. not proven 100% effective at keeping out hackers etc. but will do 99% of the time.

3. MAC Filtering - again not 100% effective as MAC addresses can be cloned, but should be used where possible as an axtra layer of protection.

4. turn off SSID broadcast once you have your clients connected the first time. this will stop casual chancers from being able to see your network in the list of available networks in windows. it won't stop it from being seen in something like netstumbler though, which is an app used to find wifi networks and view signal strength etc.

the idea is to use as much security as possible to deter anyone even bothering to try and crack. there's plenty of unsecure networks out there, so war drivers etc. will tend to go for the easy mark.

to stop casual connections, WEP + SSID (off) is plenty, as you're just stopping neighbours connecting, but on the off chance that one of them is an uber geek, or that your signal is visible from the main road or somewhere else that someone might be able to find your signal in passing, turn on as much as you can.

for the best protection, SSID off, MAC Filtering & WPA is the best choice.

obviously you'll take a minor speed hit with the encryption of data, but it's only minor, and if it's just for browsing etc. it's not going to be noticable.
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Mutant_Fruit

It really depends on where you are and how much you know abuot your neighbours. I don't need to encrypt my traffic, as the only people around are neighbours over the age of 60, so they have no idea what a TCP/IP packet is, never mind how to hack encryption. So i'm perfectly safe just using MAC filtering to lock out other systems.

If a user is competant enough to clone a MAC address, its quite possible they're competant enough to crack WEP, which takes about 10 minutes to crack on the average home PC as far as i know. So only use it if its the only security option available. WPA is far superior.

MAC filtering and turning off SSID broadcast should be more than enough to stop any but the most determined person from getting onto your network.

Cyrus

sorry if im dumb but are they settings in the router?

ntlbell

Cyrus wrote:

sorry if im dumb but are they settings in the router?

they're in whatever device you're using to provide the wireless access be it a wireless router/AP