While I'm not friendly with the neighbor directly behind me, they are nice people. So, a couple of years ago, I noticed one day that their Access Point was no longer secured. I called them on the telephone and told them and they asked for help. It seems they purchased a new laptop and when they got it home they couldn't get into their Access Point. They called in the Geek Squad and a tech went on site to their home and "solved" the problem. He shut off the WEP on the Access Point so the new laptop could connect. The people then restored the WEP on their Access Point and the next day I could see they were "protected". Since then they have upgraded to WPA2, and we're the only 2 in our neighborhood who are. I just felt that I was doing them a favor, and so no reason not to help them out.
Murray ________________________________ From: Jon Harris [mailto:jk.har...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 3:35 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: New Attack Cracks WPA in a Minute I have 2 in my neighborhood that are open but I refuse to look when I go to someones home at what the neighbors are doing. I feel it is not my business to advertise that someone is unsecured. I do on the other hand try to keep my clients safe and I am very thankful that someone started this thread. I am looking at securing mine but doubt I will be able to as it is about 3 to 5 years old now and listed as EOL by the manufacturer. Jon On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Murray Freeman <mfree...@alanet.org> wrote: Another concer, but for people who don't have a WIFI, or who just like to mooch, is the fake "Public WIFI" that are 'default' and unsecured. I understand that these are used by unscrupulous people to capture personal info. Every now and then, I see one of those in my neighborhood. Murray -----Original Message----- From: Ben Scott [mailto:mailvor...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 2:01 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: New Attack Cracks WPA in a Minute On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 10:46 AM, Jeff Brown<2jbr...@gmail.com> wrote: > Seriously, what are the odds someone in your neighborhood is lurking > around with the technology/desire to break into your home network? For a home network, the biggest threat is probabbly someone looking to mooch Internet access. Possibly a criminal looking to cover their tracks. (How would you like kiddie porn being traced to your IP address?) These aren't targeted attacks; anyone will do. For this sort of thing, the best countermeasure is to have a neighbor with a less secure access point. Same principle as car alarms: Car alarms don't make it impossible to steal your car; rather, they just make it easier to steal the car parked next to yours. Targeted attacks seem a lot less likely for home networks. Certainly, some people/organizations scan for networks to break in to for data mining purposes. I'd guess the most likely attack here would actually come from someone looking for corporate networks (they typically are of higher value). In this case, enacting sophisticated countermeasures -- like turning off SSID broadcast -- might (*might*) actually draw attention: Attackers scanning the area might see that as a sign that your network has something to hide. I suppose someone could go looking for home networks to steal credit card numbers, etc., that might be stored on home PCs, but that seems unlikely. It's high risk (requires local physical presence) and offers little reward, and there are much easier alternatives (spyware). -- Ben ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
