Wireless Network Security

[LuapYllier 8]

Hello all,

I am a simple guy. I don't have really anything on my computers that anyone would want to take advantage of. With that in mind I have never really bothered with internet security on my router. Lately though, I have noticed that my nieghbor has been piggybacking on my network with his notebook. It's not a huge deal I would just rather he not be there lol.

I know there are many sites that explain how to secure your network but frankly they all make it sound like I am a multinational coorporation looking to keep out terrorists or something. All I want to know is the simplest way to knock the nieghbor off my net without causing headaches for the other members of my network with having to deal with a myraid of new passwords and settings.

Any help would be appreciatted.

Thanks,

Luap.

[jacksunny 741]

The good way...Simply put a password on the network and then tell the other users the password. They could just set their computers to remember the password so they wouldn't have to go through the hassle of entering it every time.

The evil way...Hire a computer technician to configure your router so it will send a terrible virus into computers that you don't want to be connected. Your neighbour will never want to use that connection again.

  Edited July 3, 2011 by jacksunny  

[Sniper296 83]

Hello all,

I am a simple guy. I don't have really anything on my computers that anyone would want to take advantage of. With that in mind I have never really bothered with internet security on my router. Lately though, I have noticed that my nieghbor has been piggybacking on my network with his notebook. It's not a huge deal I would just rather he not be there lol.;;I know there are many sites that explain how to secure your network but frankly they all make it sound like I am a multinational coorporation looking to keep out terrorists or something. All I want to know is the simplest way to knock the nieghbor off my net without causing headaches for the other members of my network with having to deal with a myraid of new passwords and settings.

Any help would be appreciatted.

Thanks,

Luap.

If you don't want to have to make others learn a password you could either disable SSID broadcast, your router wont be findable and you will need to enter the SSID (name) manually, or if it is only one person you want to block you could block their MAC address.

[LuapYllier 8]

How would I do either of the above suggestions? Part of the reason I never secured it in the first place is that I am pretty clueless about the terms and vocabulary of the network. It is just the one guy next door I would like to boot so simplest way is best.

My SSID is already personalized, and I know where the enable/disable box is for that. Is that going to kick any of our computers off? How would I reconnect? If it does not then how do I kick him off?

  Edited July 3, 2011 by LuapYllier  

[jacksunny 741]

Well you would have to go into your router settings and find the option for WEP Password protection. Simply set a password. It's hard to know what to do without knowing what router you have.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You can probably log on to your router with address 192.128.0.1 and follow the menus for set up. Somewhere in there there should be all the security you could possibly want. Don't you have the router manual??

On one wireless router I helped my daughter set up, you needed one wired connection to do this.

Wireless routers are only justified if you have multiple users or want to roam around your house with a laptop. I consider them to be an expensive nuisance and unnecessary luxury.

An Internet card for your machine is less than $20 with an RJ45 plug. What did you pay for this router?

[LuapYllier 8]

It is about 4 years old so no I don't have the manual. I know how to access the admin web utility but most of that stuff in the security area is greek to me. It is a lynksys router. We use the wireless/wired router because we have 3 PC's wired to it, and also have a netbook, an e-reader, a WII and an Xbox360 connected wirelessly. It only allows for 4 wired connections and the wireless devices are scattered around the house anyway.

The WEP section is not very self explanitory and I have this great fear that as soon as I change something in there I will end up somehow locking myself and my entire network off the net and not be able to post to figure out the issue.

[jacksunny 741]

Perhaps there is some way to backup the current settings. I would go to the website of the company that makes your router and see if they have a wiki or a help section. Perhaps ask for help in their forums if they have any.

[Sniper296 83]

It is about 4 years old so no I don't have the manual. I know how to access the admin web utility but most of that stuff in the security area is greek to me. It is a lynksys router. We use the wireless/wired router because we have 3 PC's wired to it, and also have a netbook, an e-reader, a WII and an Xbox360 connected wirelessly. It only allows for 4 wired connections and the wireless devices are scattered around the house anyway.

The WEP section is not very self explanitory and I have this great fear that as soon as I change something in there I will end up somehow locking myself and my entire network off the net and not be able to post to figure out the issue.

What model is it?

[hym 358]

There are steps you can take to beef up your wireless security. Consider the following:

• Use a password for your wireless network. Make sure you use WPA, not WEP. WEP is considered obsolete.
  
• You can set up MAC address filtering, so even if they get the password, the wrong MAC address will kick them off.
  
• You can hide your SSID to make your network more difficult to find.
  

[hummer0328 6]

Yeah, don't use WEP, with an active wireless connection present, that can be broken in seconds, literally. If available on your router use WPA2 (Personal, not Enterprise or anything like that, if it gives you the option) with AES encryption. With a strong enough password, it will be impossible to break. If you still have 802.11 b devices on the network you will have to use AES+TKIP, but only use if you have older devices that cant run on G, as TKIP has known vulnerabilities.

To do this, find the manufacturer of your router, go to google and search: [manufacturer] router ip address

you should get something like:

192.168.1.1

or

192.168.0.1

I know for a fact linksys routers are 192.168.1.1 by default.

Whatever the address is, just type that into your browsers address bar and it will take you to a config GUI for your router. You should be able to configure the security from there.

If it still doesn't work, use a direct ethernet connection to the router, cause sometimes some routers wont let you configure over wireless by default. That is there for your protection, to prevent your annoying neighbor from messing with the routers config settings and locking you out.

[LuapYllier 8]

OK thanks everyone. I was continuing my research and found that the newer routers don't even have the WEP as an option any more so I went with the WPA2 (the one Hummer suggested, but I had not seen that till just now). We did a password and stuff and now the other fellow is gone. As for how strong the security is, I don't need too much, anyone who knows what they are doing and really wants in will get there anyway...but I have nothing to see. I just wanted the average piggybacker to be locked out.

I am also running into problems reinstalling widows 7 as a clean slate due to some kind of driver error but that is another story.

The part I was worried about was not knowing how to set up the other devices to use the password but all seems to have worked out.

Thanks again,

Luap.

  Edited July 4, 2011 by LuapYllier  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Linksys are very friendly. I had one of theirs when I was running multiple machines. You can download the manual from their site. You can also get the protocols to update your box.

EDIT: And this time, print the manual and put it with your critical documents.

  Edited July 4, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[EyeofMobius 27]

Oh if you are setting up passwords and what not on Routers

WRITE DOWN ON PAPER WHAT YOU SET ON THE ROUTER!!!!

I have found this to be quite troublesome when visiting people or doing work at new places is it can be very frustrating for myself and the other people when they have to waste time and energy trying to figure out how to get another device on the network.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Amen.

You would be surprised at how people will install things like routers and lose the documentation and/or not document what settings they made. When things go sour a few months later, they are locked out and usually have to revert to default settings, then set their stuff up all over again.