Jump to content

Paranoia wi-fi question


Recommended Posts

We just installed our cable internets at our apartment today and I picked up a wireless router. Now my roomate's laptop isn't able to do WPA :mikey2:

Soooo, we're using WEP 128 bit right now. Now we're in a pretty nice building and when I use my wireless browser program to look for SSIDs I see about 15-20. Most are locked, one or two aren't. Which obviously means there are tons of wifi users in this building.

How paranoid should I be about people cracking our WEP? For what it's worth I only get on the internet about an hour at night, and he probably does the same. Neither of us leave our laptops running all the time; I might overnight or during the day if I'm downloading something but my desktop computer is connected by a wire, so it's pretty rare.

I plan on changing the WEP key every 5 days or something. Any other security measures we should take? Thanks ^-^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd make your roommate buy a usb wifi card that can do wpa.

We just installed our cable internets at our apartment today and I picked up a wireless router. Now my roomate's laptop isn't able to do WPA :mikey2:

Soooo, we're using WEP 128 bit right now. Now we're in a pretty nice building and when I use my wireless browser program to look for SSIDs I see about 15-20. Most are locked, one or two aren't. Which obviously means there are tons of wifi users in this building.

How paranoid should I be about people cracking our WEP? For what it's worth I only get on the internet about an hour at night, and he probably does the same. Neither of us leave our laptops running all the time; I might overnight or during the day if I'm downloading something but my desktop computer is connected by a wire, so it's pretty rare.

I plan on changing the WEP key every 5 days or something. Any other security measures we should take? Thanks ^-^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Turn on MAC filter. If there is 1-2 networks that are not protected, chances are that whoever wants to leech, will use that.

I will add the MAC filtering, completely forgot about that. As for the unlocked leeching thing, I wouldn't necessarily say they would since they might not be able to pick up those networks- I'm barely able to connect to either of them.

I'd make your roommate buy a usb wifi card that can do wpa.

He is using a USB wifi dongle, I'll have to look closer to see if it can do WPA. But the thing is a piece of crap :'(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WEP will pretty much just keep out people who are only willing to invest the effort required to get onto an unsecured network. Otherwise, someone will just run airsnort or something of that sort and break in.

I'd just make your roommate upgrade to something that can use WPA2. If you can't do that, use MAC filtering and don't broadcast your SSID, but really WPA2 is preferable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seriously doubt that anyone in my condo will make that much effort, but if so, all the power to them. :P

I think I have WPA or WPA2 setup as well in any case.

It really surprised me how many unsecured wireless networks there are in my section of the building when I originally set mine up. Usually when people come over with a Laptop I get them to just use one of those rather than bothering with setting them up to use mine. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seriously doubt that anyone in my condo will make that much effort, but if so, all the power to them. :P

I think I have WPA or WPA2 setup as well in any case.

It really surprised me how many unsecured wireless networks there are in my section of the building when I originally set mine up. Usually when people come over with a Laptop I get them to just use one of those rather than bothering with setting them up to use mine. :D

haha! my uncle was having problems w/ his WiFi and I didn't have time to go over there and fix it. So I told him to connect to the non-passworded one >:D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.