Wireless security

[Alistair]

I have a linksys wireless router with WPA wireless encryption and password protection. Is this adequate to protect my information and system?

 

[Corny]

use wpa2 if available. choose a password with at least numbers, and a mix of lower and upper case letters. use at least 8 characters, the more the merrier

All the other stuff is just security by obscurity and doesn't help much.

Tip for coming up with a password, build a sentence and only use the first letters. Like

My husband Charles was born on the 5th avenue of New York. = MhCwbot5aoNY.

= perfect password, easy to remember

 

[andysayshi]

In normal circumstances, yes. But if you get a neighbour who knows his/her stuff, they can potentially crack it. If you want to be serious about safety:

• Make sure your password is an unidentifiable string of letters and numbers

• Change your router's default admin name and password

• Turn off your wireless router's SSID (Service Set IDentifier), which will hide your network from casual observers

• Turn on MAC filtering for your router, and specify the MAC addresses of your own devices.

• Disable remote administration for your router


And this only protects you from wireless assualt - you should still use virus and malware protection and a firewall, of course.

 

[Corny]

In normal circumstances, yes. But if you get a neighbour who knows his/her stuff, they can potentially crack it. If you want to be serious about safety:

wpa2 with a secure password?
nope .. they can't.
and if they can .. stealth ssid or mac filters will certainly not stop them.

they are just like a "verboten" sign someone is hanging up that you can laugh about and ignore it.

 

[andysayshi]

Corny, I love your password formula! Mine could be M1swampiM.

My 1st shag was a male prostitute in Melbourne.

 

[Corny]

^ hehe you get it. I actually use "dirty" passwords like that

 

[andysayshi]

wpa2 with a secure password?
nope .. they can't.
and if they can .. stealth ssid or mac filters will certainly not stop them.

they are just like a "verboten" sign someone is hanging up that you can laugh about and ignore it.

As the OP only mentioned WPA, I was assuming that was all his router was capable of. Certainly, if it is WPA2 capable, that's the first step.

 

[Paws]

One of my neighbours must have an unsecured router, it pops up in my list of available network connections

 

[Alistair]

Thanks guys. When I check my wireless properties it comes up as WPA/WPA2. I did turn the SSID off. I changed my router password, and all my passwords to a better on like Corny suggested.

My neighbor has an unsecured router. So hopefully she'd be the easy target in the neighborhood.

 

[Alistair]

I double checked my setup. It was set to WPA. I had WPA2 capability on both my laptop and router so I switched to that. Thanks Corny.

 

[Corny]

yes, it is "easy" to sniff a keyboard. even a wired one.
but you need some uncommon equipment for that, it's hardly done "for fun".
it's easier to sniff wireless keyboards (i had much fun once at a lan party killing all wireless keyboard signals, and looking at people searching for batteries), but i believe modern keyboards are able encrypt the signal somewhat.

but if someone is targeting you and can get close enough to sniff your keyboard .. he might just use one of these

, or do you check your keyboard cable all the time ?

 

[Corny]

that thing is probably just a cm long .. placed between your computer and the keyboard cable (also available in usb). it can store millions of keystrokes that can be read "out" later.

 

[bankside]

and it wouldn't fit on a mac. Therefor no version of it could ever be adapted for a mac. Mac is invincible.

In

Vincible.

 

[Paws]

and it wouldn't fit on a mac. Therefor no version of it could ever be adapted for a mac. Mac is invincible.

In

Vincible.

Wireless Mac-keyboard.

 

[Corny]

lol .. just use the usb one .. or whatever a mac uses nowadays for keyboards.

 

[PeopleYouKnow]

For my password I just think of something I can type in the Dvorak keyboard.

For example the word rosemary in the dvorak keyboard looks like os;dmaot

You get my drift haha