Only Rude Neighbors Hack Into Neighbor's WiFi
Don't Be on the Receiving End
To
better understand how to protect yourself from people who
may compromise your wireless network we need to learn what
they do in order to get inside. To protect yourself from a
breach you must think like a hacker. Chances are slim but
the intruder may not be your first door neighbor at all. A
hacker with a powerful high gain WiFi antenna could be sitting
hundreds of meters away and siphoning off your internet connection.
Two
basic things can happen:
1.
An intruder can log into your network and use the Internet
connection.
2. An intruder can log into your wireless access point (AP)
and modify the settings to better suit his needs.
Scenario
1
Let's
examine the first of the two possibilities. Wireless routers
come without any security enabled by default. This is understandable.
You need to connect to your router for the first time without
the password before you can create one.
If
you don't set the security settings and don't create a password
your wireless network will remain unlocked so anyone can connect
to it. The intruders can not compromise your computer(s) easily
but they can use your Internet connection.
This
may not be a big deal. I typically leave one of my networks
open for anyone in the neighborhood to connect to. I live
in a working class neighborhood and don't mind local kids
who can't afford their own Internet service.
On
the other hand when you realize that a bunch of people are
hogging your speed by downloading crappy YouTube videos you
may want to enable security and prevent unauthorized access.
When
you decide to do that use WPA instead of WEP. It is a newer
and more secure standard. The way you actually implement the
security will depend on your wireless router and your computer's
operating system (Windows Vista, XP, Mac, Etc.) The documentation
you received with the router will describe the whole process
in detail. A strong password will deny hackers the opportunity
to log into your network, use the Internet and make changes
to your setup.
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