Please - change your router's password!

[Anriana]

Well, you know the old joke: the most popular ISP is 'linksys'.

Shouldn't that be linkski?

[wolfie]

I say anyone stupid enough to leave a wireless network completely open deserves whatever happens as a result of wardriving. Basic wireless security isn't rocket surgery.

I realize I'm preaching to the choir, but bandwidth sucks like filesharing and games aren't the worst that can happen if you leave a wireless network unsecured. What if a wardriver is doing something illegal (think kiddie porn, drug deals, terrorism, etc.) that they don't want traced back to them? Any trace of where the illegal material is accessed from will lead to your system. Care to spend time in the grey bar hotel because someone used your network as a "cutout"?

[Dreamstalker]

Yup...something similar happened to a member of another forum of mine. I don't know if they were actually jailed, but they are not allowed to touch a computer again (sure hope the state knows that almost every job out there requires using a computer in some capacity).

I think each router sold at retail should include a course on securing your network and why it's a good idea (subject may opt-out and receive a discount of the course fee if they can demonstrate acceptable knowledge).

[Broomjockey]

I think each router sold at retail should include a course on securing your network and why it's a good idea (subject may opt-out and receive a discount of the course fee if they can demonstrate acceptable knowledge).

Impractical at best. The time requirements alone. You'd be better off requiring any wireless router requires professional installation.

[Dreamstalker]

Yeah, that's definitely a better idea.

[sms001]

Impractical at best. The time requirements alone. You'd be better off requiring any wireless router requires professional installation.

Well, there are certainly software ways around enabling wifi w/o a decent level of security. But then the router "That's easiest to Setup." wins in the market place and we're back where we started.

[Broomjockey]

Well, there are certainly software ways around enabling wifi w/o a decent level of security.

Actually, I'm saying that except for sales to IT professionals in the name of a business, make it so that you can only get wireless routers from ISPs, who come out and install it. The only ones you can buy in stores are wired. There! Problem of insecure wifi solved!

It's a horrific idea for those of us who know what we're doing, though.

[Dreamstalker]

Yup. I find it amusing that I know more than my ISP when it comes to wireless setups (mom has a very small home network, one desktop a laptop and a printer...according to $ISP that network would necessitate a rate-change to "business"--please, almost every household of more than two has a home network of some sort nowadays).

Almost every problem that's cropped up in the past six months can be traced to $ISP's equipment. For whatever reason it doesn't like having a standalone router connected and once in awhile will throw a fit.

[draggar]

While I agree that it is better for a professional to install wireless routers - who is going to bear the extra expense? An installation fee?

Also - why should I have ot pay this fee, I know how to do it and do it right (plus I have no certifications other than my job to prove I know what I'm doing - and both of those are no proof of what people may (or may not) know.

Honestly, it's sad but if someone is going to remain ignorant of the serious threats they have just be not picking up the maual that comes with having an unsecured wireless network then so be it.

I'd hate to see people who get caught up in this and hurt through it, though.

[Broomjockey]

While I agree that it is better for a professional to install wireless routers - who is going to bear the extra expense? An installation fee?

Also - why should I have ot pay this fee, I know how to do it and do it right (plus I have no certifications other than my job to prove I know what I'm doing - and both of those are no proof of what people may (or may not) know.

a) I said it would be set up by your ISP. Most people would just get it done when you get your modem installed, and then it would be secured, and they can help you set it up when you actually do need it.

b) you are taking a tongue in cheek suggestion that took me 16 seconds to come up with WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.

Seriously. Geez.

[draggar]

Maybe purchasing a wireless router should require a literacy test (like so many other things).

[Eric the Grey]

Yup. I find it amusing that I know more than my ISP when it comes to wireless setups (mom has a very small home network, one desktop a laptop and a printer...according to $ISP that network would necessitate a rate-change to "business"--please, almost every household of more than two has a home network of some sort nowadays).

I doubt that this is ignorance on the part of the ISP. More than likely it's greed, plain and simple. They use this as an excuse to charge more.

I like the ISP I have. When I first signed up with them, they send (emailed) me the instructions to not only set up the router (a little one-port Cisco) for their service, but they also included the instructions to go into it and set up NAT so I could set up the network to run right from that. We didn't have wireless then, so it wasn't necessary for that.


Eric the Grey

[RootedPhoenix]

Somewhat on-topic with wardriving: Is there a way to rig things up so my laptop computer can use my cellphone's internet access? Like that Rogers usb thing, except without that thing. I'm thinking something like internet over bluetooth from my cell to my laptop or something similar?

It's not wardriving. However, depending on your phone, you can do exactly that, either by Bluetooth or by hooking up your cell to your computer by USB. Talk to your cell service provider; they can tell you all the details. You're basically using your cell as a modem. I've done it with several phones.

I've seen the setup work better on Windows than Macs, but maybe your situation will be different. Like I said, check with your cell service provider.

[Eric the Grey]

This afternoon reminded me of this post...

My sister got the T-Mobile home phone package, which basically uses the internet to make phone calls. They got a Linksys router which they plug their house phone into, and it does the rest.

The guy at the store told them all they needed to do was plug the router in in place of our current one, and it would handle both. Trouble is, it wouldn't because the wireless router we have is also our DSL router, which has all the login information for the ISP programmed in. Simply replacing it would have served to have simply killed our internet. However, we CAN run them in tandem, using our existing DSL for internet and wireless and the other for the.

However, I discovered today, three days after she installed it, that the thing is also wi-fi capable and has no security whatsoever on it.

So I got to spend my afternoon before work configuring the thing to keep people out. Luckily, nobody did anything to screw the thing up. At first, she told me that T, my nephew couldn't get into it with the default login and password, which had me worried for a few, but he must have been doing something wrong.

All in all, it's set up good enough to keep the neighbors out, and once she moves in a month, she can make use of it without changing very many settings, if any depending on what internet she gets there.


Eric the Grey