Re: tracking wireless activity
1. WEP or WPA protection on the network 2. MAC address filtering for WS network 3. Stop broadcasting your SSID to the world I second that. I actually use the first 2 measures only at the moment. The reason being that not broadcasting SSID prevents my powerbooks from connecting automatically to the given network as soon as Airport is turned on. Is there a known way around this, like setting somewhre the name of the network to connect to? I haven't found such an option yet. cheers, gianfranco -- Telefonieren Sie schon oder sparen Sie noch? NEU: GMX Phone_Flat http://www.gmx.net/de/go/telefonie -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---
tracking wireless activity
Greetings Mac Folks, At home I notice that my DSL modem lights occasionally are flashing quite noticeably when neither my TiBook (Mercury/Panther) nor the 9600 (400/9.1) ethernet connected desk top are on. Both are routed through a motorola wireless router/ethernet hub. We live in an apartment block. I'm wondering if others in the building might be accessing the modem through the wireless router? I'm assuming that's very possible. I'm curious to know, is there a way for me to check and see if that is the situation by looking at wireless activity while I'm hooked up with the TiBook (is this built into Panther, which I'm still very much learning, or do I need third party activity tracking software)? Would other devices like wireless phones possibly make the lights jump? How worried should I be, if at all. Are they getting a free ride? Or worse? Could they hack into it without passwords? (Generally I assume virtually anything is possible...) I've never noticed that anything untoward is happening with my computers. The TiBook mostly stays at work, in any case. I almost hate to ask this for fear of what I'll find out -- but better safe than sorry. Cheers, Rick -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---
Re: tracking wireless activity
Sometimes hits from the internet will cause the lights to flash. I see this on my DSL router soemtimes when all computers are off. But---did you set your wireless router to privacy mode, so no one other than you can use it? LaterHoward On 10/24/05, Rick McCutcheon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Greetings Mac Folks, At home I notice that my DSL modem lights occasionally are flashing quite noticeably when neither my TiBook (Mercury/Panther) nor the 9600 (400/9.1) ethernet connected desk top are on. Both are routed through a motorola wireless router/ethernet hub. We live in an apartment block. I'm wondering if others in the building might be accessing the modem through the wireless router? I'm assuming that's very possible. I'm curious to know, is there a way for me to check and see if that is the situation by looking at wireless activity while I'm hooked up with the TiBook (is this built into Panther, which I'm still very much learning, or do I need third party activity tracking software)? Would other devices like wireless phones possibly make the lights jump? How worried should I be, if at all. Are they getting a free ride? Or worse? Could they hack into it without passwords? (Generally I assume virtually anything is possible...) I've never noticed that anything untoward is happening with my computers. The TiBook mostly stays at work, in any case. I almost hate to ask this for fear of what I'll find out -- but better safe than sorry. Cheers, Rick -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com --- -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---
Re: tracking wireless activity
At 02:57 PM -0500 10/24/2005, Rick McCutcheon wrote: At home I notice that my DSL modem lights occasionally are flashing quite noticeably when neither my TiBook (Mercury/Panther) nor the 9600 (400/9.1) ethernet connected desk top are on. Both are routed through a motorola wireless router/ethernet hub. If it's inbound traffic, then it's one of two things: a) ARP packets. This is the protocol that the next router upstream from you uses to find you. It's normal to see about 2 to 5% ARP traffic on DSL and Cable lines. No big deal -- think of it as leaves falling on your roof. b) Infected PCs hunting for more machines to infect. This would be the Great Pumpkin rattling your doorknob. In addition to the direct packets (pings, http, etc requests), these scans cause about 2/3 of the ARP traffic. If it's outbound traffic, then... We live in an apartment block. I'm wondering if others in the building might be accessing the modem through the wireless router? heck yea. You're broadcasting ip availability to everyone! If you don't want your neighbors to be able to use your service, turn on WEP or WPA encryption. is there a way for me to check and see if that is the situation by looking at wireless activity while I'm hooked up with the TiBook Routers always track who they're talking to. They do this two ways: In its DHCP table, and in its route table. At least the DHCP table, and probably also the route table should be viewable from the router's web interface. Would other devices like wireless phones possibly make the lights jump? yes. There are 802.11 IP Phones available that can do this. They're currently a bit pricey tho. How worried should I be, if at all. Your xDSL contract probably says you cannot share the service beyond your own premisis. So you're perhaps risking a theft of services charge from your telecom provider. But more importantly, because it's your residential service, you could be held laible for whatever the other users are doing -- file trading or spamming etc. HTH, - Dan. -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---
Re: tracking wireless activity
On Oct 24, 2005, at 12:57 PM, Rick McCutcheon wrote: Greetings Mac Folks, At home I notice that my DSL modem lights occasionally are flashing quite noticeably when neither my TiBook (Mercury/Panther) nor the 9600 (400/9.1) ethernet connected desk top are on. Both are routed through a motorola wireless router/ethernet hub. We live in an apartment block. I'm wondering if others in the building might be accessing the modem through the wireless router? I'm assuming that's very possible. I'm curious to know, is there a way for me to check and see if that is the situation by looking at wireless activity while I'm hooked up with the TiBook (is this built into Panther, which I'm still very much learning, or do I need third party activity tracking software)? Actually, you should be able to access this via the wireless router software, I'm unfamiliar with any Moto products, but in others you can access it and see what devices are attached. Find the airport id's of your own systems and you can see if any different ones are attached. For more detailed probing of your local network, you can use nmap http://faktory.org/m/software/nmap/ but that's a fairly geeky tool. Would other devices like wireless phones possibly make the lights jump? not on the DSL router. However, depending on how the local DSL network is set up you might be getting broadcast traffic to all the addresses, though that's more common on cable systems. In this case this is pretty much just network blah blah noise. To check this, simply unplug the wireless router from the dsl modem. If the flickering stops it's local traffic, if not it's blah blah. How worried should I be, if at all. Somewhat. Are they getting a free ride? Odds are 99+% that this is the case; perhaps not even a free ride. If your DSL service is particularly common in your building, it could well simply be another customer connecting automatically to your router instead of theirs. I've seen that happen a number of times. Still, this could spell trouble should the FBI or RIAA come a'- knocking... Or worse? Unlikely, but possible. Someone coming in through an unlocked access point or cracked WEP are on the 'inside' on your local network, which the router keeps private. Once there, all sorts of mischief could be done. Open file shares could be browsed, 'man-in-the-middle' IP snooping could be done, the gamut. Is this level of hacking likely to be going on on your network? Unlikely. Could they hack into it without passwords? (Generally I assume virtually anything is possible...) If the admin password of the router wasn't changed when you first set it up, very likely indeed. If you're using WEP authentication, it's reasonably easy to crack. Unfortunately your systems probably don't support WPA, a stronger encryption standard. I've never noticed that anything untoward is happening with my computers. The TiBook mostly stays at work, in any case. I almost hate to ask this for fear of what I'll find out -- but better safe than sorry. As I said, odds are likely 99% (or even 99.99%) someone in your apartment building is either going woo hoo! free internet! or thinks they're connecting to their own wireless router. Steps can be taken to mitigate the problem: 1) Enable WEP encryption with a new password. 2) Make sure the admin password on the router has been changed, to something secure and hard to guess. 3) Most wireless access points allow you to limit the number of simultaneous connections and limit connections to specific MAC addresses. Set yours to 2 (or 1, if you don't use the desktop and the laptop simultaneously.) and set it to just allow the MAC addresses (Airport or Ethernet ID of your systems. depending if you're using the wireless or wired ports) of your systems to connect. Then if you try to get on, and can't you know someone's mooching, simply powercycle the wireless router to kick 'em off, and get on. This will block the casual use and casual snoopers. It's not proof against a determined bad guy, but as I said, it's unlikely that this is the case. -- Bruce Johnson This is the sig who says 'Ni!' -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast
Re: tracking wireless activity
Hi Rick, the best way to figure out if somebody is using your DSL without your permission is to check the number of IP addresses that your wireless router assigned to clients. You can do that on the router - you should be able to connect to its IP address via browser on http:// or https:// port. If there are more more addresses assigned than you have computers then it is clear that someone uses your badwidth. In any case I would suggest you to enable wireless security at least via WEP (although this is not very strong security it should keep people out for few days). You can also consider enabling MAC address filter (MAC address is unique ID of each network card - yes people can find ways to change their MAC address, but this is another level of protection of your network). If you enable the MAC address filter be sure to add any new equipment that you add later (new computer, network printer, etc. otherwise they will be unable to connect to your network). And lastly you can disable broadcast of the network SSID which should help hide your network (again this is only weak protection as people that already know your SSID are likel to connect wihout problems). You may need to change your SSID to something else before you disable SSID broadcast. By the way securing your network is very good idea as you could be held responsible for what people do from your segment of the network - I hope your neighbors are no spammers or crackers... Not to scare you. Hope this helps. Best Regards, Jan On Oct 24, 2005, at 3:57 PM, Rick McCutcheon wrote: Greetings Mac Folks, At home I notice that my DSL modem lights occasionally are flashing quite noticeably when neither my TiBook (Mercury/Panther) nor the 9600 (400/9.1) ethernet connected desk top are on. Both are routed through a motorola wireless router/ethernet hub. We live in an apartment block. I'm wondering if others in the building might be accessing the modem through the wireless router? I'm assuming that's very possible. I'm curious to know, is there a way for me to check and see if that is the situation by looking at wireless activity while I'm hooked up with the TiBook (is this built into Panther, which I'm still very much learning, or do I need third party activity tracking software)? Would other devices like wireless phones possibly make the lights jump? How worried should I be, if at all. Are they getting a free ride? Or worse? Could they hack into it without passwords? (Generally I assume virtually anything is possible...) I've never noticed that anything untoward is happening with my computers. The TiBook mostly stays at work, in any case. -- Honza www.lesninoviny.com - Blog z lesu a haju Pennsylvanie (.mac: musiljan) (ICQ: 134361915) (Y!: musiljan) (M: +1 610 570 9349) -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---
Re: tracking wireless activity (wow)
Thank you to all of you who have replied (Bruce, Jan, Howard, Dan), sincerely -- the information you've given me is very clear, exactly what I was after and I will be able to follow-up on it over the next couple of days. Wow -- what a resource this group is; may it live for a long time! (Bruce -- in my case it'd be the RCMP and CSIS coming to knock on the door...) Regards, Rick On 24-Oct-05, at 3:39 PM, Bruce Johnson wrote: On Oct 24, 2005, at 12:57 PM, Rick McCutcheon wrote: Greetings Mac Folks, At home I notice that my DSL modem lights occasionally are flashing quite noticeably when neither my TiBook (Mercury/Panther) nor the 9600 (400/9.1) ethernet connected desk top are on. Both are routed through a motorola wireless router/ethernet hub. We live in an apartment block. I'm wondering if others in the building might be accessing the modem through the wireless router? I'm assuming that's very possible. I'm curious to know, is there a way for me to check and see if that is the situation by looking at wireless activity while I'm hooked up with the TiBook (is this built into Panther, which I'm still very much learning, or do I need third party activity tracking software)? Actually, you should be able to access this via the wireless router software, I'm unfamiliar with any Moto products, but in others you can access it and see what devices are attached. Find the airport id's of your own systems and you can see if any different ones are attached. For more detailed probing of your local network, you can use nmap http://faktory.org/m/software/nmap/ but that's a fairly geeky tool. Would other devices like wireless phones possibly make the lights jump? not on the DSL router. However, depending on how the local DSL network is set up you might be getting broadcast traffic to all the addresses, though that's more common on cable systems. In this case this is pretty much just network blah blah noise. To check this, simply unplug the wireless router from the dsl modem. If the flickering stops it's local traffic, if not it's blah blah. How worried should I be, if at all. Somewhat. Are they getting a free ride? Odds are 99+% that this is the case; perhaps not even a free ride. If your DSL service is particularly common in your building, it could well simply be another customer connecting automatically to your router instead of theirs. I've seen that happen a number of times. Still, this could spell trouble should the FBI or RIAA come a'-knocking... Or worse? Unlikely, but possible. Someone coming in through an unlocked access point or cracked WEP are on the 'inside' on your local network, which the router keeps private. Once there, all sorts of mischief could be done. Open file shares could be browsed, 'man-in-the-middle' IP snooping could be done, the gamut. Is this level of hacking likely to be going on on your network? Unlikely. Could they hack into it without passwords? (Generally I assume virtually anything is possible...) If the admin password of the router wasn't changed when you first set it up, very likely indeed. If you're using WEP authentication, it's reasonably easy to crack. Unfortunately your systems probably don't support WPA, a stronger encryption standard. I've never noticed that anything untoward is happening with my computers. The TiBook mostly stays at work, in any case. I almost hate to ask this for fear of what I'll find out -- but better safe than sorry. As I said, odds are likely 99% (or even 99.99%) someone in your apartment building is either going woo hoo! free internet! or thinks they're connecting to their own wireless router. Steps can be taken to mitigate the problem: 1) Enable WEP encryption with a new password. 2) Make sure the admin password on the router has been changed, to something secure and hard to guess. 3) Most wireless access points allow you to limit the number of simultaneous connections and limit connections to specific MAC addresses. Set yours to 2 (or 1, if you don't use the desktop and the laptop simultaneously.) and set it to just allow the MAC addresses (Airport or Ethernet ID of your systems. depending if you're using the wireless or wired ports) of your systems to connect. Then if you try to get on, and can't you know someone's mooching, simply powercycle the wireless router to kick 'em off, and get on. This will block the casual use and casual snoopers. It's not proof against a determined bad guy, but as I said, it's unlikely that this is the case. -- Bruce Johnson This is the sig who says 'Ni!' -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove
Re: tracking wireless activity
On Oct 24, 2005, at 4:48 PM, Jan Musil wrote: case I would suggest you to enable wireless security at least via WEP (although this is not very strong security it should keep people out for few days). You can also consider enabling MAC address filter (MAC address is unique ID of each network card - yes people can find actually, a while ago I read of new software that did a predictive key hash or something, and the needed number of packets to decrypt the WEP went down from several hundred thousand to often just a few thousand or less; 5 min WEP cracks could occur. I figure, with MAC filtering, at least if they clone your MAC, their bandwidth will be poor if you are online as well :) B -- G-Books is sponsored by http://lowendmac.com/ and... Small Dog Electronicshttp://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html G-Books list info: http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html -- AOL users, remove mailto:; Send list messages to: mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For digest mode, email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription questions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/ --- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---
