Help me protect my wireless network

[opethfan]

mac address filtering is way more effective than hiding the SSID. hiding the SSID is virtually pointless.

either way, make your WPA key something that's long, and not an actual word, and odds are nobody will ever be able to get in.

That is very true, but the point of encryption should be to keep script kiddies out. If someone with experience wants to get in and you use your wireless heavily, they could crack your code in a matter of minutes. Stopping the casual piggybacker is what you want to do, and it never hurts to do more than you need to in order to have more peace of mind and a little more security.

[skate323k137]

what i'm saying is, someone who can crack WEP will not be slowed down by a hidden SSID at all.

on the other hand, WPA cracking requires what is essentially a dictionary attack, so if your ssid/password combination isn't in the most common list, it will take way more effort than anyone would ever put in to break it, or years of brute forcing.

[opethfan]

There are quicker ways of cracking now, not that I've ever broken into any network. Kismet does show hidden networks though.
WPA2 with a strong key, hidden SSID and MAC filtering will ensure that you're completely safe. More protection never hurts, not enough does. At the end of the day, you're probably right, SSID hiding won't do much, but it doesn't harm much, so why not?

[RCBH928]

I consider myself paranoid
but I realize most of you are very concerned about wifi security
Usually people here will log on whatever is availabe usually no bad intentions, just internet access
its hard to meet someone who is capable of cracking your network security and then why would he do it.

Maybe you guys are in America and Europe where people are high tech and computer smart. Its where all the hackers and crackers are for movies, games, and everything else so yeah I guess its greater chance of being hacked into your network over there.

[opethfan]

I consider myself paranoid
but I realize most of you are very concerned about wifi security
Usually people here will log on whatever is availabe usually no bad intentions, just internet access
its hard to meet someone who is capable of cracking your network security and then why would he do it.

Maybe you guys are in America and Europe where people are high tech and computer smart. Its where all the hackers and crackers are for movies, games, and everything else so yeah I guess its greater chance of being hacked into your network over there.

You'd be surprised. In less developed nations where internet access is rarer or more expensive, people are likely to go to greater measures to get free internet. Never believe that you're safe.

[RCBH928]

Yeah but if they think email is the same thing as msn messenger
I really do not think a lot of people can hack into a network, or have a reason to

I guess these kind of people are around, just very small in numbers

[opethfan]

People breaking the law (if there is one) and doing things that others wouldn't like don't usually shout it in public.