Making Wireless Network Safer

Adam Isa · 21st June 2007

Hi all. My new Dell laptop came today with wireless enabled. I already had a router, so just needed to set it up. After a few teething problmes, managed to get it all set up and running fine. The problem that I am concerened with is the fact that my neighbour, who I was speaking to said that my internet connection came up on her PC. I put a password on so that no-one will be able to get access to this connection unless t hey know the password, but is this enough to stop people from stealing my bandwith? The security is 'WPA-Personal' and the encryption is 'TKIP'.

Also, I only want it to show the one that it is connected to currently:

Wireless

... Not the two below that, as the one immediately below that is my unsecured one and the other is my neighbours.

Any help will be appreciated.

**Dennis L** · 21st June 2007

The following WPA PSK Crackers: Loose Lips Sink Ships is a good read. You are currently at WPA-Personal, which is much better than WEP, but can be broken (should be a concern for business, most home wifi system generally have little to offer hacker). On page two, How to Protect Yourself, explains the importance of password creation. Whenever I move to a new Wifi/router, I will be looking for WPA/WPA2-Enterprise encryption.

**Dennis L** · 21st June 2007

I forgot to post this .... Tips for Securing Your Home Router

PaalN · 22nd June 2007

I didnt read everything Dennis L posted. But if you dont want neighbours to see your network, you will have to turn off SSID broadcast on your wireless router.

Btw that screenshot is very small. Have you linked to the thumbnail?
But i dont know of any way to not see networks in range. Why dont you want to see them? Are you never going to connect to other networks?

visionof · 22nd June 2007

If the security is on - and it is wpa then you have an idiot neighbour.
She most likely saw your ssid on her windows wireless utility and " saw your wireless".
It is of little consequence.
To you anyways.
You might want to change your channel from the default channel 6 to improve your speed away from her interference .
You might want to change the ssid from the default if she has the same default ssid.
You can turn your beacon off in the control panel and she will most likely not be able to see your signal in the windows wireless utility .
Or you can leave the wireless beacon and name the ssid "virus" or "spyware".
I wish i had a neighbor like that.
Most likely the router is set on defaults an wide open with no security et al.
A person could use it to download torrents.

**TonyT** · 23rd June 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by visionof

If the security is on - and it is wpa then you have an idiot neighbour.

The neighbor probably saw his wlan when Wireless Zero Config searched for available wifi networks in range and spoke to him BEFORE he setup WPA security. The neighbor is not an idiot, more likely a friend doing what friends do best, help each other.

To prevent neighbors & passersby from seeing the availability of your wlan from Windows computers, access the Access Point/router control panel and disable SSID broadcast. This will prevent Windows users from seeing your wlan when they check for available wireless networks in range. It won't stop linux or mac users from seeing your wlan, but it's a good precaution to take.

Windows Wireless Zero Config, the Windows application that manages wireless connections, scans for all wlans in range & they will show up in the list. No harm in that.

No wireless security is really secure, including WPA Enterprise, but the best security will deter 99.99% of criminal hackers.