Wireless security

[Jocelyn_g]

As I have previously posted, I have a Sprint Broadband card plugged into a Kyocera router and then have two hard-wired desktops running from that. I had the wireless portion of the router disabled. We have company for the next few days and they wanted wireless access for their laptop. I went into the router and turned on the wireless and they now have access but on an unsecured connection. Do I need to worry about that for just a few days? As long as their laptop has a firewall does it matter?

Thanks,

[Aikonik]

see here for more suggestions : Security on wireless networks

[robodude]

The thing is with wireless networks is they announce their presence to anyone within range by constantly broadcasting an identity beacon called a Service Set Identifier [SSID]. I am in range of four of my immediate neighbours’ Wi-Fi networks, two of which remain completely unprotected. IMHO, Wi-Fi security should be switched on at all times. The only exceptions are during the initial setup, briefly when troubleshooting a faulty connection or if you take your laptop on the road and need to be able to log on to access points or wireless hot spots.

[Dr. V]

You probably have no problems for a short time, but you can secure your wireless with a click on the right checkbox.

You can name your router with a user-friendly name instead of the default name, and then change the password needed to connect from the hex-decimal (0 thru 9, plus A thru F) address that is currently assigned to a user-friendly password that has the same constraints. (You can simply notate the default address and keep it in your desk drawer so travelling laptops that are paying you an authorized visit can log onto your router, or you can create a password that consists of 10 characters in the range of 0123456789abcdef that is easy for you to remember.)

If you secure your router, then any visitor can get in when you tell them the password, and anybody else will have to spend far too much time trying to crack the code to make it worth while. And, even if they can get into the router, unless you have set your hard drive as a shared resource, hackers sitting in the street outside your house can't get past the router anyhow.

[Birdie]

yes it does matter. Dont give anybody the chance to hack into your network. It only takes small steps to stop a BIG problem from occuring. Go ahead and secure your wireless network and you (for the most part) wont have to worry about unknown people connecting.