Re: Cable router working - bafflement

Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:18:08 +0100, me9@xxxxxxxxxxx (Bella Jones)
wrote:

Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:34:42 +0100, Rob
<patchoulianREMOVETHIS@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Many thanks - just had a look and yes, there it is, 'Attached Devices'
on my Netgear WGR614 v6. I'm the only one showing up. Part of the reason
for asking is that a someone in a pub told me he could connect to any
domestic wifi in seconds, and I think he added' without being detected'.
Urban myth?

Depends.

Unsecured, anyone and their monkey can get on.
Hidden SSID, anyone with quarter of a clue can get on.
Whitelist for allowed MAC ids, anyone with half a clue can get on.
WEP security, anyone with half a clue and several minutes can get on.

So should you do all these as well as WPA/WPA2?

Nope, no point really. They're all "security through obscurity" which
never works. Hiding the SSID often makes it tricky for a laptop to
find the wifi, which is just pointless.

I always turn off SSID broadcast. Apart from the fact you need to turn
it on for a windows machine to connect the first time (it is ok on a
mac), beyond that, why do you need it on?


--
Woody

www.alienrat.com
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Cable router working - bafflement
    ... anyone with half a clue can get on. ... WEP security, anyone with half a clue and several minutes can get on. ... So should you do all these as well as WPA/WPA2? ... bellajonez at yahoo dot co dot uk ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: Cable router working - bafflement
    ... anyone with half a clue can get on. ... WEP security, anyone with half a clue and several minutes can get on. ... So should you do all these as well as WPA/WPA2? ... Whitelisting is too easy to ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: connecting to a particular wireless router by command line ?
    ... depends on how many routers share the same SSID. ... Any clue on operating system or is this an OS agnostic question? ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)