Wireless security: what for? Solved/Closed

Question

Hello, folks!

My question has to do with wireless network security. Let me apologize in advance for what may seem to be a silly question. I'm a long time computer user, but have only recently started to develop an interest in them.

I know that everyone says you should set your network up as a password protected system. But, I'm curious to know why this is needed. I'm not talking about the possibility of a neighbor hooking up to my wireless router (either accidentally or intentionally), because I'm sure that has happened... and frankly, I really don't care. I'm talking about the possibility of someone using my unsecured Wireless G network to tap into my home's computers. 

I suppose that another part of this is that I'm not so much interested in the theoretical possibilities as I am the probabilities. Maybe a crack team of hackers could sit in my front yard for a couple days and eventually steal some exciting Word Document from my laptop (like the one titled "letter to grandmother"... the horror); but I'm talking about something else. I'm talking about the possibility that, with little effort, some sneaky person who lives nearby could hack into the network and grab important personal data off my computers.

I have resisted making my system password protected for a number of reasons. One is obviously that I'm skeptical that there is a real-world chance that someone would break into my computer through it. Also, I have a large family, and we are in almost a constant state of flux when it comes to retiring old computers, buying new systems, adding printers, etc. So, it's just easier to do all this without dealing with a password. 

One of the things that has made me recently wonder a bit more about this is that I learned about software like Network Magic. My thought was that "if I could buy this software and share data between computers on my network... what's to stop someone else from doing the same?"

TheDoc911 · Accepted Answer

Hi!

I doubt if any would be able to hack into the computer...

I was never much interested in that. I was always interested in someone not using my IP for illegal purpose only. I’m not much worried about it because and thinking most are professionals any way closing all ports not used for security is of interest.

An excellent firewall is in order. Sygate professional is one (which I use). 

Consider someone piggy backing on your IP (which you don't consider important besides using your bandwidth). Consider that person downloading music or whatever. What if child pornography? The sites a person if sniffed would only lead a trail to your IP addy.

Think about all of this...

iluv2hak · Answer

help me.  i want to steal into a wireless  network which uses a wep key. my system is hp compaq6720s

pissy · Answer

A neighbor kid piggy backed off my IP address and downloaded Spore to his computer. Now I'm in trouble for copyright infringement. Even though the little shit broke into my Linksys I'm being held responsible. This sucks.

I-Saviour · Answer

That Does suck. Some A-hole did the same to me, broke into my network and downloaded porn from bittorent and this company says i have to pay for copyright infringement. This is a load of bull. That's what pisses me off. Someone can come along and accuse someone of something and the accused will have to spend his or her resources to prove his or her innocence and if proven innocent, does not get those spent resources back.

I-Saviour · Answer

That Does suck. Some A-hole did the same to me, broke into my network and downloaded porn from bittorent and this company says i have to pay for copyright infringement. This is a load of bull. That's what pisses me off. Someone can come along and accuse someone of something and the accused will have to spend his or her resources to prove his or her innocence and if proven innocent, does not get those spent resources back.

just some dud who knows · Answer

Your right the probability is next to zero, now one can access your computer fully or with any kind of accuracy to steal any useful information,  and ignore gyhgjuhgbjghjghjghjhg's comments he even admits he is a drunk and i promise u he couldn't hack his way out of a paper bag. The only things you need to worry about with any computer using any kind of internet access is malicious viruses and someone getting physical access to your computer and using an undetectable key logger.

Apex · Answer

nothing really like you said you could get any open source program and get access to your files but you can monitor who gets on your network with many programs like i run linux so i use network manager. for example this dude next door got on my connection so as sonn as he started looking at porn i started making his computer download anything it could get its hands on if you want to know how to do that email me at Email Id removed for security

eric eddler · Answer

More than ever networks are at a threat from virus and hackers and valuable information is out in the open. For great network protection, Turn-key technologies is a fantastic company that offers high quality computer and network security

Geeky Boy · Answer

As an IT Technician I have to deal with this ignorance every single day. If you think "no one will ever hack me cause I have never done anything wrong to them" then you will definitely be hacked. No hacker cares about who you are, and if they did get any details about you (Personal details including Credit Card details) they will probably end up selling them and then you have a much harder time dealing with Identity Theft than a simple security hole that can be easily fixed. 

Another problem here is the notion that "I don't need a password on my network". I do advanced network penetration tests on a variety of networks that do & don't have passwords, and the majority I can access with no issues whatsoever, and download whatever I like. If you do not have a password on your network, ANYONE can access your network including EVERY user on your network easily. If you use a password above WPA (WPA2 is highly recommended), it makes it a lot harder for hackers to access your network easily. Most hackers will probably end up giving up because they rather access those without any security than access those with encrypted connections. 

Monitor the users on your network, and if your router allows it use MAC Address Filtering & Closed Networks. Closed networks mean that your network isn't visible to other users unless they type in the EXACT network name & password to access that network. MAC Address filtering is in regards to allowing individual computers to connect to your network & blocking others that are not allowed. Every computer has a unique MAC Address so each computer can be defined separately from each other. Check with your router manufacturer for more details on how to set up MAC Address Filtering & Closed Networks (If unsure of what all of that means, use Google to check). 

@john88: It does not take a team of "Top hackers" to break your computer, especially when you have an unsecure network. The above explains the method to do so. But for personal computer security you need to look into getting Anti-virus (Avast! Free is very good), Malwarebytes Pro (picks up whatever Avast! doesn't pick up (including the pay versions)), and if you are really paranoid a Firewall as well (ZoneAlarm is highly recommended). There are a few other ways to remain safe on the internet, but they are too complicated to use & can cause a security nightmare if you don't know how to use them correctly.

Wireless security: what for?

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