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    Picking up a wireless signal

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by agrotzky, Jul 6, 2006.

  1. agrotzky

    agrotzky Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok I’ll start by saying please don’t bash me for this one, I’m just curious and uneducated, so I have to ask.

    I live in NYC and have a really old thinkpad that is hooked up to DSL internet service, but not wirelessly. Recently I had a friend visit from out of state with her new vaio laptop and basically turned it on and had an internet connection.

    How in the world does that work? Isn’t she technically stealing the internet from one of my neighbors? Doesn’t that make her unsecured, and open to stealing info from her.

    The reason I’m asking is because I’m about to get a new laptop and move to a wireless router, but I’m worried about people then turning around and stealing my connection and information.
     
    agrotzky, Jul 6, 2006
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  2. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    Yes, your friend was stealing.

    If you secure your wireless router, people can't steal your bandwidth.
     
    kegobeer, Jul 6, 2006
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  3. agrotzky

    agrotzky Notebook Enthusiast

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    what about personal and bank information etc.
     
    agrotzky, Jul 6, 2006
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  4. logume1881

    logume1881 Notebook Consultant

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    As far as I know, you can't connect to a router that is protected without some type of code. This means that unless they know your code, or can hack it, they can not connect to your PC. I don't think you can connect to the pc anyway unless you have file sharing all enabled and set up. So basically, protect your router (WEP,WPA,etc.) and you're good.
     
    logume1881, Jul 6, 2006
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  5. drumfu

    drumfu super modfu

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    1. to protect the contents of your HD, you need a firewall; windows has one built-in or you can get an aftermarket one. as well, your router may have one, but what you have to ask yourself is...

    2. what kind of personal and bank information do you have on your computer that you don't want others to see and if it's that sensitive, do you really want to leave it on a computer that you can lose or have stolen? I mean, do you have a .xls with all your credit card numbers and passwords and social security number, etc.?
     
    drumfu, Jul 6, 2006
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  6. agrotzky

    agrotzky Notebook Enthusiast

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    I meant online banking and shopping
     
    agrotzky, Jul 6, 2006
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  7. logume1881

    logume1881 Notebook Consultant

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    I think that is stored in cookies and stuff, and on the websites servers. Just lock your router, get a good firewall, AV, AS, and clear cookies once in a while.
     
    logume1881, Jul 6, 2006
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  8. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    Secure websites don't store credit card or other personal information in cookies. The most I've ever seen is a shopping cart stored in local cookies. If you have a router with NAT (the built in firewall, much better than a software firewall) and you use WPA/WPA2 with AES or TKIP, you disable the SSID broadcast, and you have a 20+ character passkey (upper, lower, numbers, and special characters; random characters), and you always make sure you are on a secure website when entering banking information, you should be ok.

    Never, ever, store banking passwords, credit card information, etc, on your computer. If you do, make sure you encrypt that file (using PGP or another encryption system). Under no circumstances should you store the encryption key on the computer.
     
    kegobeer, Jul 6, 2006
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