"linksys" means free WiFi right?

EDIT: ha my bad, i thought you were asking if it was.


no it does not mean its free. I have a WEP key on my linksys router. Linksys is just the brand of router being used for internet access. However, There are a lot of linksys access points that people don't secure, so you can get on their network and "share" the connection for free
 
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EDIT: ha my bad, i thought you were asking if it was.


no it does not mean its free. I have a WEP key on my linksys router. Linksys is just the brand of router being used for internet access. However, There are a lot of linksys access points that people don't secure, so you can get on their network and "share" the connection for free
WEP really isn't secure, it can be broken in just a few minutes with fairly commonly available tools. However, as long as there are unsecured 802.11x still available, that should be sufficient. If you want to be secure, you'll really want to go WPA2. Supposedly, WPA is also close to being broken.
 
have a WEP key on my linksys router. Linksys is just the brand of router being used for internet access. However, There are a lot of linksys access points that people don't secure,

Wep is unsecure.

Lil FYI for those thinking their not victims of war driving just because of wep.


Edit:Bah Chix you beat me to the punch.
 
WEP really isn't secure, it can be broken in just a few minutes with fairly commonly available tools. However, as long as there are unsecured 802.11x still available, that should be sufficient. If you want to be secure, you'll really want to go WPA2. Supposedly, WPA is also close to being broken.

YES, WPA is more secure than WEP.
But have you really tried to hack a WEP key?
I bet none of those news article writers have actually tried it themselves.
I have - and it's not as easy as they make it out to be.

It can be done with one computer, but is made easier when using two.

Imagine three computers
#1) Your attacking computer
#2) Your sniffing computer
#3) The computer being attacked.

Step 1) Use computer #1 to detect a network, and pick a computer on the network to be attacked.
Step 2) Use a utility on computer #1 to kick computer #3 off of the network.
Step 3) Use a utility on computer #2 to watch computer #3 attempt to re-connect with the network.
Step 4) Use computer #2 to decipher the data stream captured in step #3 - looking for the WEP key as part of the data stream.
Step 5) Repeat steps 2-4 until the WEP key is found - it took me 5 times of trying to finally hack my test system.

Trust me - it's well beyond the scope of 99% of pc users.
I can do it, but I have much better things to do with my time that going around sniffing for open networks.
 
Just goes to show that to use a computer, you no longer need to be computer literate.

That's what they were shooting for, right? :D

Ron
 
YES, WPA is more secure than WEP.
But have you really tried to hack a WEP key?
I bet none of those news article writers have actually tried it themselves.
I have - and it's not as easy as they make it out to be.

It can be done with one computer, but is made easier when using two.

Imagine three computers
#1) Your attacking computer
#2) Your sniffing computer
#3) The computer being attacked.

Step 1) Use computer #1 to detect a network, and pick a computer on the network to be attacked.
Step 2) Use a utility on computer #1 to kick computer #3 off of the network.
Step 3) Use a utility on computer #2 to watch computer #3 attempt to re-connect with the network.
Step 4) Use computer #2 to decipher the data stream captured in step #3 - looking for the WEP key as part of the data stream.
Step 5) Repeat steps 2-4 until the WEP key is found - it took me 5 times of trying to finally hack my test system.

Trust me - it's well beyond the scope of 99% of pc users.
I can do it, but I have much better things to do with my time that going around sniffing for open networks.
All well and good till you remember that someone who is supposed to be using that network is probably watching a youtube video using it right now. That's plenty of data for a statistical analysis of the probable key. Yeah, it's beyond most people, but like the saying goes... doors and locks are only to make people feel safe, so is WEP.
 
I am on my neighbor's connection right now. My router shit itself the other day and I have not had a chance to call ATT. He is TDY right now so I doubt he cares.
 
Just goes to show that to use a computer, you no longer need to be computer literate.

That's what they were shooting for, right? :D

Ron
That and get people who don't understand government, economics, or for that matter reality to vote!
 
I have a linksys wi-fi router with zero security running on it right now...but I'll bet you $100 you can't get into my network. ;)

Cat ate the antenna? :D
 
WEP is wired-equivalent-privacy, it's not meant to be secure it's just meant to keep people from casually capturing data in the same way that have an ethernet wire does not make the data secure but does prevent people from casually capturing data
 
WEP is wired-equivalent-privacy, it's not meant to be secure it's just meant to keep people from casually capturing data in the same way that have an ethernet wire does not make the data secure but does prevent people from casually capturing data

It's still more secure than an American UAV's video feed. :D
 
It's still more secure than an American UAV's video feed. :D

Off-topic for a moment, but: there may have been some relatively clever thinking behind using unencrypted video on the UAVs for as long as we have. The bad guys can monitor the feed and we in turn can watch where they run from as it gets close to them. Handy way to get intel on their numbers, equipment, mobility, where they run to, etc.
 
It's still more secure than an American UAV's video feed. :D

OW!

That's harsh, man...

I know full well that there's no such thing as 100% security in any networking environment. The most that wireless encryption does for you is prevent casual attachment and/or snooping. If someone wants in, they'll get in.

If someone wants in to your wired network, they'll find a way in. It's easier if you're attached to the outside world (read: Internet.)

Important/sensitive data is stored offline, so you'd have to break into the house to get at anything I wanted to secure. Then break encryption on that drive. Assuming you snatched the right drive in the first place (you've got fairly good odds of grabbing a dummy drive, and it's about even odds that, assuming you've gotten a useful drive, you're going to grab something with data you can find easily on it.)

Probably the very closest you can get to 100% secure data storage would be to keep anything critical in between your ears, and don't tell anyone else.

Good luck!
 
Ok So I have a question here. How does in addition to WPA2, does Mac address filtering help out? I use it, I know that a mac address can be copied, am I being stupid in thinking that in my rather rural setting that I am not a high target here? I am in kodiak and all my neighbors have their own internet and satellite TV (we share a dish).
 
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