Question for you...

If your neighbours have an unsecured wireless network, is it wrong to log on to it?

Is it illegal or just plain cheeky?!

Your thoughts please.

 

If its there for the taking, go for it

Bri.

 

It's illegal. Warchalking is not nice

Offer to go round and secure it for a few quid. He'll probably appereciate it especially if you show him what people can do on HIS connection (surf for porn etc).

Cheers

Matt

 

see lots of posts for this how do u actually make it secure and why is it not secure straight outta the box ???

 

WEP KEY or lock down the mac/ip address access.

 

I've just set up a wireless connection. Can you tell me how to do this?

 

why not ask him if you can use it and secure it for them as your contribution.

 

Thing is, I dont know who's it is. Ive got 5 wireless networks available.
2 are secured, one is very weak, but the other 2 are open and full strength.

I can only identify 1 secures one, as it is named as a family across the street.

This being a paper thin Barrat house rammed in with loads of other paper houses, it really could be anyone.

Also WTF is warchalking??

 

warchalking is where people drive/walk down streets and put a chalk mark outside their house to state what type of WIFI the network is (secured/unsecured/no ssid/etc)

wardriving is the actual movement in searching for networks....

If you have a PDA with wifi, load WIFIFOFUM and just drive to another town...

I have, and it must have picked up about 60 wireless networks, some with REALLY bizarre names, some secured, some unsecured...

VERY handy if you go away for the weekend or summat and need to check emails/surf for stuff etc

 

logging on to unsecured wireless networks is classified as theft of service and most certainly against the law as is war driving.
I have actually been prosecuted for this apparently the neighbour had issues with running one of my servers

 

bloody hell! what did you get for that then?

 

NOTE, once you enter key on router, you'll loose connectity via wireless until you enter same key on laptop/pc

you'll still be able to log on router/ go on net via ethernet port


log on to router

go to wireless security

enable 128bit web enter a 26 letter/number password in say key 1

enter the same detail on your laptop/pc

it should reconnect

 

I got prosecuted under the computer misuse act and was informed that using other peoples bandwidth without permission is reducing the amount of a valuable resource available to the people who pay for that service.

I got a pretty big fine, had to pay compensation for use of service to the effected party and got the appropriate documents that say im legally naughty .

As a side point this wireless was running WEP with restricted access through mac addresses. WEP cracking and MAC Address spoofing was never difficult and now there are many applications that allow 12 years olds to automate this without understanding how it is done. WPA or WPA-PSK should be used for all wireless situations these days and a RADIUS server is security is important

 

Shit! I'm guessing you were doing a bit more than a little ebay surfing and checking your mail then!

 

Don't use WEP, it can be broken easily. If your router supports it and your running XP SP2, use WPA with PSK. Its a lot more secure.

Cheers

Matt

 

I tried using that, my computer is fine with it but my housemates PC didn't seem to get on with it. He's got a copy of windows XP that is old and can't be updated.

 

If your going to use someone elses wireless, don't be a cunt and do anything shit.

 

i.e Not genuine

 

How would you know if a neighbour was using your wireless network tho? Any telltale signs, giveaways etc?

Is there anyway of finding out who else is using it?

 

Every time you connect to a router it makes a log and shows your mac address and some even show the name of the machine. Some even have a option to show connected devices.

The biggest give away is that your connection is slow when your only browsing web pages and that when your machine is off the activity lights are flashing a lot, you should get a little activity when your not using your router.

If your going to use someone else's connection make sure you spoof your MAC address to something random or one of the machines that is allowed to use the network.

 

How do I access this log? where can I find it etc?

 

Read your manual, it will be under the router diagnostics

 

agreed, but wep is in on every device so is a good start

to run wpa psk on xp you need the patch

 

very handy, having a phone with wifi when you away or abroad, for a bit of skype etc back to the uk or streaming radio

 

You should be able to access it via internet explorer and typing in http://192.168.1.0 or http://192.168.1.1