Non default SSID, and WEP-128, how safe am I?
Posted: Wed May 07, 2003 7:18 am
I am a late comer, I know. Please excuse the newbie speak. I waited this long to go wireless, because I just could not justify the expense of a laptop.
Ok.. Last week, bought a laptop, and wireless hardware. I picked up a Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router(WRT54G) and a Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Adapter (WPC54G). At first, before discovering NetStumbler, I just plugged it in, and let WindowsXP do the rest.
Then I discovered NetStumbler. Wow... stayed up driving around till 1:00 am. I found over 100 AP's within 1 1/2 mile of my house, and only driving in one direction.
Anyway... Now that I know about NetStumbler, I have changed the SSID, turned WEP on (128 bits 26 Hex digits), and disabled the SSID broadcast. I immediately noticed that NetStumbler no longer saw my AP (once you tell Win XP not to configure wireless for you) Yeah, guess that makes me a party pooper for wardrivers.
The question is, how secure am I? What kind of equipment/software do you have to employ to find AP’s that are not broadcasting their SSID? Does all/most AP software let you disable the SSID broadcast?
Ok.. Last week, bought a laptop, and wireless hardware. I picked up a Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router(WRT54G) and a Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Adapter (WPC54G). At first, before discovering NetStumbler, I just plugged it in, and let WindowsXP do the rest.
Then I discovered NetStumbler. Wow... stayed up driving around till 1:00 am. I found over 100 AP's within 1 1/2 mile of my house, and only driving in one direction.
Anyway... Now that I know about NetStumbler, I have changed the SSID, turned WEP on (128 bits 26 Hex digits), and disabled the SSID broadcast. I immediately noticed that NetStumbler no longer saw my AP (once you tell Win XP not to configure wireless for you) Yeah, guess that makes me a party pooper for wardrivers.
The question is, how secure am I? What kind of equipment/software do you have to employ to find AP’s that are not broadcasting their SSID? Does all/most AP software let you disable the SSID broadcast?