Wireless security Q

Magic_x_uk · 21 Aug 2006 at 21:52

Wireless security advice

Just recently got myself a cheap laptop and noticed when im at home if i do a search for wireless networks i find a couple of others that are not mine.
One is secure and one is not.
Now i have WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key) on My netgear DG834 router inplemented on my network at home as i have 2 computers and one laptop and can use MY network Places to access / change / view etc various folders / files on other pc's/laptops around my home.

Now what I am concerned about is the security of my network. Is it possible for someone (I realise i have WPA Enabled) to sit outside my home, view available wireless networks and connect to a unsecure wireless connection and then look at your network places and in theory view, change etc your files ?

Or am i missing something, just wondered if i am being as secure as I can be.

Thanks, wireless and network is new to me. But im really amazed that I can be in the garden on line wirelessly and even wirelessly print a document to my printer upstairs that is connected to my main computer with a USB cable. Now to me thats clever stuff and so easy to set up

hybrid · 21 Aug 2006 at 22:42

Your fine as long as you have a decent sized key and is pretty hard to guess/know.

Phemo · 22 Aug 2006 at 05:46

Magic_x_uk said:
Now what I am concerned about is the security of my network. Is it possible for someone (I realise i have WPA Enabled) to sit outside my home, view available wireless networks and connect to a unsecure wireless connection and then look at your network places and in theory view, change etc your files ?

Yes, if someone connects to an unsecure network then they'll be able to view files on PCs depending on whether or not they've set an admin password or have the guest account enabled, etc. You'd think that if they've left their network unencrypted then they've likely left all their PCs wide open too ...

Seeing as you're WPA secured though, as long as you have a reasonably strong key you're fine. Most people won't even bother trying their luck with a WPA network - just WEP.

***F1ZZY*** · 22 Aug 2006 at 07:58

I've seen some dodgy apps that run under linux and can crack both WEP and WPA. I'm sure that these tools and skills are not known by 99.9% of people. Chances of one being a neighbour is very slim.

Opinion is WPA>WEP in terms of security.

If you have WPA enabled then little more you can do tbh.

toy_soldier · 22 Aug 2006 at 11:58

Dont mean to hijack the thread but insted of starting a new one:

On my Belkin 7633 I have got WPA2 PSK setup and on the router home page under wireless security it is blank, on any other type of security it shows up ie 64/128bit WEP or WPA PSK, can someone who has this router tell me if theirs is the same or if my network is unsecured!!

Cheers

tolien · 22 Aug 2006 at 12:24

The only way you're going to crack WPA-PSK anytime soon is brute forcing the PSK, so if you use a strong PSK ("password" need not apply

) you're safe.