I wake up this morning to find out there's a new wireless access point somewhere in my building. Don't know who's it is but ... thanks for the connection
I wake up this morning to find out there's a new wireless access point somewhere in my building. Don't know who's it is but ... thanks for the connection
Maybe I should cancel my cable modem?
Whoa, deja vu...(just answered this at Macfixit.com )
<blatant copy and paste answer>
Keep in mind that they could be running a TCP packet sniffer, capturing all TCP traffic on the wireless network. It's trivial to do and you can see a LOT of stuff that you might not want to be visible to others, websites, HTML/JPEG/web content, emails, passwords....
Better to get your own cable connection, set up a closed wireless network for your own needs.
Actually, the same happened to me some time ago. My comp suddenly discovered another network, and after some tweaking, I was able to surf the net at full speed. I could even access their wireless router config pages (it's a belkin 54g), so it'd be perfectly possible for me to screw them over royally. Disable their internet connection, shut out their computer's MAC addresses, ... Needless to say I'm not interested in that sort of thing, but I can't help but feel some pity for these poor saps who've left their network so wide open. And yes, I have downloaded an 80 MB file using their internet connection. I'm wondering how the karma issue is on that one. Is it a crime what I did? Is it even bad, or morally unacceptable?
I wonder how this would play out if you made a few thousand MP3s available for upload, and the RIAA went after the guy who's connection you were leeching. It would be his IP they'd have on file (or his router's), right?
At my old university we discovered that a local ISP was running a HUGE wireless bubble over the campus. For more then 6 months about 50 students who knew/had wireless cards enjoyed the free ride. Then they started blocking MACs and eventually closed the network. But it was fun while it lasted.
Here's my opinion: track down the dude with the network, and ask him/her about whether they mind your use of their Wi-Fi. Usually people who leave their networks "unlocked" will say that they don't mind your request.
Not if you're in New Hampshire der Kopf Gotta love those bonehead republicans. Look on Slashdot there's an article about this, if it's in the open and unencrypted you can use it. Most of the WiFi I've seen is unencrypted or only uses WEP. Damn that sucks to be them.
I'm guessing if they left it open they don't know what they are doing. A girl moved in above me (how can a 70 pound asian girl make so much ****ing noise?) so maybe it's hers?
Still though "they" could be some guy baiting you but I highly doubt it. KISMac can capture packets and decrypt WEP on the fly but it's hard to get working, it doesn't want to work with my PB G4 12" for some reason. Of course how can you really even trust wires? The FBI is most likely reading your email after all...\
I have room in my driveway and my neighbors often have too many cars for their lot. Sometimes they'll park in my driveway. I don't like it.
I'm sure the AP's owner wouldn't like it also, but it's still a terrible analogy.
Sure, the owner of the access point may not like it, but that's beside the point. He is extending his network into Scott's domain. The physical layer of this network is the air. The guy doesn't own the air, but you own your driveway. That guy especially doesn't own the air around Scott.
If the owner of the AP really doesn't want people leeching off his internet access, then he can do a ton of things to prevent people from using it.
Still though "they" could be some guy baiting you but I highly doubt it. KISMac can capture packets and decrypt WEP on the fly but it's hard to get working, it doesn't want to work with my PB G4 12" for some reason. Of course how can you really even trust wires? The FBI is most likely reading your email after all...\
As long as you practice good security, it doesn't matter that the wireless connection is wide open. Hopefully you are using encrypted transport every step of the way when it comes to sensitive info. When you login to my.yahoo or Amazon use SSL. When you access your work computer remotely, don't use telnet or rsh. And for the love of JEBUS use random passwords.
Comments
Originally posted by Scott
I wake up this morning to find out there's a new wireless access point somewhere in my building. Don't know who's it is but ... thanks for the connection
Maybe I should cancel my cable modem?
Whoa, deja vu...(just answered this at Macfixit.com )
<blatant copy and paste answer>
Keep in mind that they could be running a TCP packet sniffer, capturing all TCP traffic on the wireless network. It's trivial to do and you can see a LOT of stuff that you might not want to be visible to others, websites, HTML/JPEG/web content, emails, passwords....
Better to get your own cable connection, set up a closed wireless network for your own needs.
</blatant copy and paste answer>
Hmmmm....
Originally posted by torifile
I have room in my driveway and my neighbors often have too many cars for their lot. Sometimes they'll park in my driveway. I don't like it.
Well let the air out of their tires next time they park in your driveway... and for shits and giggles do it when they use there own driveway too.
I'm guessing if they left it open they don't know what they are doing. A girl moved in above me (how can a 70 pound asian girl make so much ****ing noise?) so maybe it's hers?
Still though "they" could be some guy baiting you but I highly doubt it. KISMac can capture packets and decrypt WEP on the fly but it's hard to get working, it doesn't want to work with my PB G4 12" for some reason. Of course how can you really even trust wires? The FBI is most likely reading your email after all...
Originally posted by torifile
I have room in my driveway and my neighbors often have too many cars for their lot. Sometimes they'll park in my driveway. I don't like it.
I'm sure the AP's owner wouldn't like it also, but it's still a terrible analogy.
Sure, the owner of the access point may not like it, but that's beside the point. He is extending his network into Scott's domain. The physical layer of this network is the air. The guy doesn't own the air, but you own your driveway. That guy especially doesn't own the air around Scott.
If the owner of the AP really doesn't want people leeching off his internet access, then he can do a ton of things to prevent people from using it.
1) Turn on WEP
2) Set his AP not to broadcast its BSSID
3) Turn on MAC address filtering
4) Reduce the transmitter strength on the AP
5) etc, etc.
Originally posted by Aquatic
Still though "they" could be some guy baiting you but I highly doubt it. KISMac can capture packets and decrypt WEP on the fly but it's hard to get working, it doesn't want to work with my PB G4 12" for some reason. Of course how can you really even trust wires? The FBI is most likely reading your email after all...
As long as you practice good security, it doesn't matter that the wireless connection is wide open. Hopefully you are using encrypted transport every step of the way when it comes to sensitive info. When you login to my.yahoo or Amazon use SSL. When you access your work computer remotely, don't use telnet or rsh. And for the love of JEBUS use random passwords.