wireless security

[holmslaw]

Any comments/advice please.

Bought a new dell laptop, the only way it would wirelessly connect is if I disabled the encryption on the router (netgear dg834gt) After trawling the internet it seems that others have exactly the same problems, and dell and netgear blame each other for the problem.

Anyway, after reading the router instructions I discovered setting up access points by using mac addresses. So I have now set up the router so that it will only allow my laptop mac address to connect, ssid is switched off and the encryption is disabled.

I believe this is totally secure - am I right?

Also the the connection speed has dramatically increased and the connection is constant, in the past it was slower and intermittent

 

[MarkBarl]

I have found in the past that sometimes, you have to disable all security when first connecting a new wireless device, then you enable the security one step at a time i.e. MAC filtering and then Encryption) checking at each step that you can still connect.

If this doesn't work, an alternative would be to purchase a 108Mbps Netgear wireless card, so you could take advantage of the 108MBps speed. (I assume that the Dell card is b & g)

 

[Igorian]

So I have now set up the router so that it will only allow my laptop mac address to connect, ssid is switched off and the encryption is disabled.

I believe this is totally secure - am I right?

Not really. MACs are transmitted over a wireless network and are relatively simple to detect. It's also extremely easy to change the MAC of a NIC. Should anyone find your MAC, they could clone another wireless laptop with the number and they will be in.

However having said that, this could be seen as scare mongering. What's the chances of someone actually doing the above to you? Probably slim, but it does happen and high tech identity theft is a growing industry.

 

[holmslaw]

Thanks for the comments.

Not really. MACs are transmitted over a wireless network and are relatively simple to detect. It's also extremely easy to change the MAC of a NIC. Should anyone find your MAC, they could clone another wireless laptop with the number and they will be in.

I was thinking someone determined enough could detect the signal. But it would be no use because they would'nt know the name because it is not being transmitted. And if they don't know the name they cannot connect.

Whats an NIC?

 

[Igorian]

I was thinking someone determined enough could detect the signal. But it would be no use because they would'nt know the name because it is not being transmitted. And if they don't know the name they cannot connect.

True, your router is no longer sending the SSID via a beacon, but it will still be transmitted within other packets. There are a number of legitimate applications which can determine the SSID without any effort.

Whats an NIC?

Network Interface Card.

 

[NatB]

MAC addressing is only good for keeping out passing trade shall we say. The MAC address can be cloned quite easily. I always change my network name and change the router not to broadcast it as well, then you need to know the name prior to connecting as well.

What exactly is the problem with Netgear/Dell? If Netgear have used industry standard WEP/WPAx interfaces then there shouldn't be a problem for any PC to connect. Can you connect with another PC running a different NIC (Network Interface Card)? Have you tried changing between WPA2 (very secure) to WEP (basic). Does Windoze handle your wireless networks or another program? Sounds like a driver problem on your pc assuming Dell have used an industry standard card.

 

[holmslaw]

Well because I was bit concerned with some of your comments. I decided to very carefully read the router instructions for setting up wpa-psk.

And it says you must use ASCII characters, I'd been using alphanumeric, downloaded a random 63 digit ASCII code and now it all works.
I dowloaded from the site below mentioned by empip in another post

https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

I think I now have one of the most securest networks in the world.

But what p***** me off why did'nt the router tell me my code was unacceptable - did it know I had'nt read the instructions?

Anyway, many thanks for all the enlightening advice.

 

[Softus]

Bought a new dell laptop, the only way it would wirelessly connect is if I disabled the encryption on the router (netgear dg834gt) After trawling the internet it seems that others have exactly the same problems, and dell and netgear blame each other for the problem.

Have you tried all protocols?

Anyway, after reading the router instructions I discovered setting up access points by using mac addresses. So I have now set up the router so that it will only allow my laptop mac address to connect, ssid is switched off and the encryption is disabled.

I believe this is totally secure - am I right?

No.

Firstly, the only 100% secure connection in a WLAN network is a wired connection.

In the case of restricting access by MAC address, the MAC address can be discovered and spoofed.

Also the the connection speed has dramatically increased and the connection is constant, in the past it was slower and intermittent

What? I thought you said that it wouldn't connect when using encryption? So what do you mean "in the past"?