wireless router users, beware!

[basschick]

we had some dsl issues last night so i finally called sbc. turned out we hadn't received a letter they sent out telling us we had to register our account.

so they're walking us through the process when i notice there are not two but THREE computers that use our dsl - and one has a name we 100% would never have on our computer. that one is using wireless, which we never bothered with.

it appears our neighbors have been helping themselves to our dsl - and to do it, they had to either have physical access to our router (they could only have that by entering our apartment without our knowledge) or possibly by opening the letter from sbc, calling and someone getting someone over there to help them into the system.

man, am i pissed!

of course i turned off the wireless feature right away. :evil:

[HotMaleVideos]

Did you have encryption turned off? You basically become a free hotspot without it.

[CorbinFisher_BD]

I've done that with other peoples' wireless :-x

At an old coffee shop I used to go to, the guy who lived in an apartment upstairs had better wireless than the coffeeshop so everyone would use his hehe. And a lot of my neighbors would have wireless networks that I could pick up.

What always blew me away was what they named their wireless networks. Stuff you wouldn't want strangers knowing. Their wireless network would be their first and last name, or a phone number, or something else you don't really want to broadcast to total strangers. There was even a neighbor who had his online screenname as his wireless network's name. It was like "jockbttmfratboi" or something . For shits and giggles I did a Google search on that and found online profiles of his and pictures and all kinds of stuff. I mean he was a neighbor so I already knew what he looked like but still. Do you really wanna broadcast that?! And he wasn't even cute!!

But anyways... encrypt it! And it never hurts to have a network monitor around too so you can see everything that goes in and out of, on and through your network. Especially with wireless.

[DonMike]

Do you really wanna broadcast that?!

Well, if he was on that many profile sites then, yes. Maybe he was hoping someone would catch him, see his info and "punish" him. LOL!

[Chilihost]

yes, make sure you have security turned on, or beware the leachers.

and, yes, I have leached in the past as well. And now with PDAs becoming 802.11b/g enabled, this will happen more and more.

cheers,
Luke

[collegeboyslive]

What always blew me away was what they named their wireless networks. Stuff you wouldn't want strangers knowing.

checking out my sub div came up with one open accesspoint with the SSID set to be the persons address !!!

[basschick]

*sigh*

would you believe this? the security people that sbc use TELL you in mail and when you talk to them that security is on but it turns out that their settings actually default to publically broadcast your wireless. anyone parking in our building lot with a laptop could have suddenly found themselves online without even knowing why.

if you're using sbc, better log into 2wire and find the settings for that.

[basschick]

if you need to do this, go to Home Network and then Wireless Settings. UNtick SSID Broadcast. having it ticked means that you're broadcasting your wireless - and they seem to default to that setting.

[Slade]

There was even a neighbor who had his online screenname as his wireless network's name. It was like "jockbttmfratboi" or something . For shits and giggles I did a Google search on that and found online profiles of his and pictures and all kinds of stuff. I mean he was a neighbor so I already knew what he looked like but still. Do you really wanna broadcast that?! And he wasn't even cute!!

I am TOO CUTE!
Whoops..never mind!

[Chilihost]

some people are just naturally born exhibitionists, even if its in a geeky way like that!

[DonMike]

I have a hotspot in my pants. Oops, did I say that out loud? :eek:

[nicedreams]

At our condo, I can pick up at least 15 different open connections. It's crazy.

Is it wrong to take advantage of stupid people like that?

Jimmy

[Chilihost]

its never wrong to take advantage of stupid people, as long as you let them know you are doing them a favour :bush:

[Slade]

In Seattle, you can hardly NOT find a "hotspot"..
Man..I remember the days when that meant something SO entirely different!

[Chilihost]

hrmmm....just checked for the fun of it and I have 14 unsecure networks showing up right now, most of them are called "belkin" or "default" LOL!!!