Who's using your wireless? Find out.....

How to know whether your neighbors or others are using your wireless network is rather complicated. If your neighbors are experienced Wi-Fi hackers, you might not be able to tell at all. If they’re just stealing your Internet connection, you may be able to tell from the logs on your router. You could look for logs such as current LAN clients, connection or status log, or connected MAC addresses.

Check MAC ID addresses

To find out who’s on your wireless network, you’ll need to start by taking inventory of all the devices that are meant to be connected. Find out their MAC IDs and their IP addresses (if they’re static).

To find out the MAC ID/IP address on a PC, click the Start menu and choose Run. Type cmd and click OK. In the screen that opens, type “ipconfig /all” (without the quotes) and hit Enter. The MAC address will be shown as the “physical address.”
Once you know the MAC addresses of each of the PCs on your network, you will recognize any addresses that don’t belong under the screen that shows the MAC addresses of current connections.

Check IP addresses

Likewise you may be able to see how many IP addresses have been dished out by the DHCP server. If you check the IP addresses of each of your PCs, you can see if other IP addresses have been served.

To find out your IP address from the Start menu, click Run. Then type in cmd and click OK. In the screen that comes up, type ipconfig which will display the IP address for that computer. (Bear in mind, however, that if the PC is set to auto detect settings, then the PC’s IP address will change the next time the computer is rebooted or switched on. Sometimes previously served numbers have not yet expired, so you may think someone is connected when they are not.)

Dealing with intruders

If you do find someone using your connection, they may well not be doing so maliciously or even knowingly. Sometimes people can’t tell which is their own connection and they may honestly believe that they are using their Wi-Fi router rather than yours. The best way to deal with this is to set up your own security and maybe you can help them find their own router!

The optimal solution is to set up a strong password using WPA and change it regularly. Once your network is functioning, you can switch off the SSID broadcast (which prevents it from advertising the name of your network) so it would effectively disappear as far as your neighbors are concerned, and the first you might hear of it is when someone complains that their Web connection has disappeared.

R O U T E R

## Tricks for installing a wireless router

The trick to successfully installing your router is to read the manual. Every router is different; even two models from the same manufacturer can have significant differences. Familiarizing yourself with the manual will help your success in the long term.

There are two steps to installing a wireless router:

• The first is hooking it up and switching on the wireless aspect. You need that wired connection first so that you can set up the wireless aspect.

• The second part is setting up your broadband connection. That is usually just a case of pointing the DNS to the modem. Most setup installations will guide you to do this. Of course, this is assuming you have a broadband modem and not an integrated wireless router and modem in one. If that’s the case, you’re going to have to hit the books…and read the manual!

One of the things that freaks people out most is the fear of putting a wrong setting into the router. Don’t worry. There is always a reset option that will allow you to easily take it back to the factory settings. Also, always be sure to make notes about what you’re doing every step of the way. That way you can easily go back on what you just did.

The information in this tip originally appeared in the Wireless Basics online class discussion.


## Best way to secure your wireless router

• Update the firmware in your wireless router(manufacturer's website, make and model needed)

• Broadcast SSID(turning of the SSID can cause connection problems)(When changing any type of security, change the SSID name to make it easier to connect)Use WPA PSK(TKIP) Security. WEP can be hacked and not all devices work with WPA2 Security.

• Mixed b and g mode(n if available)

• Used channels 1, 6 or 11. Most devices work better on these channels.

• Save and exit. Power everything off wait 30 seconds and turn everything back on.

• Connect to your new secure network. No need to worry about intruders, WPA cannot be hacked.

• Remember if using a print server, wireless printer or wireless devices, you also have to reconfigure these to work.

Set up a wireless network using a router

IP ADDRESS AGONY

Your computer is a fountain of useful information, a treasure trove of music and video that wants nothing more than to share its wealth with the world. But, alas, a peculiar affliction seems to have rendered it unable to converse with its own kind. You just finished connecting it and two other computers in your home to your wireless router, but when you explore your machine's network neighborhood, you find only endless white blank space.

Are these computers destined to live in the darkness of their private worlds? Why can't they see each other?

These tips can help you use your wireless router to share your Internet connection.

1. Check your computers' IP addresses.
First, confirm that all of your computers have matching, compatible IP addresses. To do this on a Windows PC, open a command prompt by clicking Start > Run. Type cmd into the text field and click OK. After the command-prompt window opens, type ipconfig and hit Enter. A new command prompt appears and above it, a list that includes the IP address and subnet mask for your computer's network adapter. The computers on your network use each other's IP addresses to send and receive data packets. If your networks' addresses are invalid, sent data will have nowhere to go and will ultimately be discarded. The IP addresses of your computer should all be unique, but typically will all start with the same initial nine digits. For example, if your router's address is 192.168.1.1, then the addresses of two of the computers on your network might be 192.168.1.20 and 192.168.1.30.

You should also make sure that all of your computers have the same subnet mask. A subnet mask is used to divide your IP address into two separate addresses: a network address and a node, or individual computer, address. For example, if your subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and your IP address is 192.168.1.12, then the first three sets of digits, 192.168.1, are your network address, and all of the computers on your network will need IP addresses with these same first three sets of digits. In this case, 12 is the individual computer address on your network, and it shouldn't be repeated for any of the computers on your network.


2. Set up Windows XP file sharing.
Before you set up file sharing, make sure that all of your computers are assigned to the same Windows workgroup. A Windows workgroup is a group of PCs running Windows that are configured to share files and printers. Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. The PC's workgroup name is listed on the Computer Name tab of the System Properties window. There's also a button on this tab that lets you change the workgroup name. If necessary, change the workgroup assignments on your computers so that they match.
You can set up file sharing on PCs running Windows XP by right-clicking the folder you want to share, then selecting "Sharing and security." On the Sharing tab, check the box marked "Share this folder on the network." You can also enter a share name for the folder, which is the name the folder will have when it is accessed remotely from other computers. For example, you can share a folder on your computer called My Images and give it a share name of Jill's Images, making it less confusing for those accessing the folder from other computers. You can also choose to let others change files in your shared folder from other computers by checking the box marked "Allow network users to change my files." If you leave this box unchecked, users on other computers will be able to read your files, but they won't be able to change them. When you search the network neighborhood from other computers, you should now see the shared folder.

Note: Allowing file sharing between your Windows PCs creates a new point of entry into the computers on your network. While the risk is nothing to lose sleep over, it is a good idea to use it sparingly. If you're not planning to share files, disable it. If you are planning to share files, limit the number of folders you share. Generally, it is not a good idea to share your entire hard drive.

How not to get hacked

It's important to know how not to get hacked. The following details the layers of security you can place on your wireless network, as well as the effectiveness of each layer.

In some ways, securing a network is like the security on your home:

• Leave the front door wide open. Seen by curious honest people and criminals alike as an open invitation to enter. See, it even says ‘Welcome’ on the doormat!

• Shut the front door. This will keep out an honest person, but a crook wouldn’t be deterred, as they’ll walk right up and try the handle.

• Lock the front door. This will again keep out the opportunist thief who will only try the door handle or climb in open a window to see if he can get it. Luckily most criminals fall into this category, so lock your door!

• Bolt the door with deadbolts, bars on the windows, and alarms. It takes a lot more to keep out the determined criminal who, with a little equipment and know-how, might pick the lock, disable your alarm, or break your whole door down!

#Wireless security falls into the same categories:

Leaving the door open: an open invitation

• Broadcasting a default SSID
• No MAC filtering
• No encryption
• DHCP switched on/No access controls

#Shutting the door:

• Changing the SSID (the name) of your network and disabling SSID broadcast. The determined hacker can discover this, so it merely protects you from the opportunist who’s in a hurry.

• Disabling DHCP/Access Control. This will not stop a hacker with even minimal knowledge, as there are many tools which will sniff out available IP addresses on your network

• MAC address filtering. A hacker with only a little know-how will be able to clone your MAC address--and see everything you see on your network.

#Locking the door

• WEP: Wireless Encryption Protocol can be hacked in seconds using free tools that are widely available.

#Bolting the door

• WPA: A randomized pre-shared key of at least 10 characters would take half-a-million years to crack. More info about this here. (Note: A random key means that it shouldn’t be a word that exists in any dictionary (hackers have extensive dictionaries that include all common passwords, English words, nicknames, and misspellings of words. This is called a “dictionary attack.”) A random key is a meaningless mix of lower- and uppercase letters and numbers, and sometimes special characters like punctuation, depending on whether your router supports it). If you’re not sure how to get a random key, you can generate a simple WPA key online on my Web site or a more complex one here. You can also get software that will generate a key for you (type “software generate wpa key” into your favorite search engine).

It’s best to build up each type of security in layers, checking that all devices can connect and communicate at each step before adding another layer. Make sure you read your router’s manual to ensure you’re storing the settings correctly (some routers require you to save the settings each time you make a change or the changes will be lost).

Be secure!

Wi - Fi Protect

Protect your wireless network from hackers

It would send chills down your spine to learn how easy it is for others to connect to your Wi-Fi network and put your computers under their spell. If your computer has been acting funny lately, working fine at times while slowing to a crawl at others, it may have crossed over to the dark side and could be spamming your friends and scamming your parents.

A home network brings many benefits, but it can also expose new evils. Both your Internet connection and your wireless router are potential points of entry for the bad guys. Hackers can probe for your computers over the Internet and turn them into zombies if they are unprotected. Worms and viruses can slither their way through your network, burrowing more holes into your PC than a maggot-infested corpse, and the thief parked on the street where you live can set up shop with the help of your Wi-Fi connection.

Here are a few tips that will keep hackers and freeloaders at bay.

1. Use encryption to protect your wireless network. It sounds trivial, but consider this: wireless data is transmitted over the air. This makes it far more exposed than data transmitted over a cable. To hack into an Ethernet network, you either need to force entry through an Ethernet connection or you need access to the Ethernet cable, which you can lock behind a door; but to pry into a wireless network, you need only be within range. A would-be intruder can park in the street where you live and do her dirty work from the privacy of her car, without risking the unpleasantries of breaking and entering.
You can protect your wireless network by encrypting it. Virtually all Wi-Fi gear supports an encryption scheme called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). WEP scrambles data transmitted over your network, making it difficult to decipher. Even better, setting up WEP is easy. In most cases, you merely enter a passphrase into the configuration settings of each device on your network. The devices use the passphrase to generate a WEP key, which is used to encrypt and decrypt data transmitted over the network.

2. Lock down your LAN. An always-on broadband connection is convenient, but it's also a magnet for hackers and script kiddies, giving them a target that is open 24/7. You can use a firewall to thwart attacks on your network that use your Internet connection as their point of entry. Most wireless routers come with an integrated NAT firewall. NAT stands for network address translation and is used to hide the IP addresses of the PCs on your network behind your router's IP address. From the Internet, your network appears to consist of only one device, your router. This makes it more difficult for intruders to identify the computers on your network. NAT, however, is relatively dumb. It maps the addresses of the computers on your network to the IP address of the router, but it doesn't inspect the data inside the packets passing through your router. For that, you need a second firewall that performs stateful packet inspection, or SPI. An SPI firewall can determine if an incoming data packet is a legitimate response to a request from one of your computers. Not all routers include an SPI firewall, so keep a lookout for it when you buy your gear.

3. Don't make it easy for criminals. Most consumer networking gear is designed to be easy to use out of the box. Easy setup might leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling after the initial setup, but a foolproof setup routine can also leave your network vulnerable to unwanted visitors. For example, routers use DHCP, dynamic host configuration protocol, to automatically handle the IP address information for the computers on your network. But handing out IP address information automatically makes it easy for unwanted guests to join your network. Consider manually assigning static IP addresses to your computers and turning off your router's DHCP server. To manually configure an IP address, right-click the Network Neighborhood icon and select Properties. A window appears listing your network adapters. Right-click the adapter you use to connect to your LAN and select Properties. In the "Local area connection properties" window that appears, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click the button marked Properties. This window allows you to use a prespecified IP address, subnet mask, default gateway (in this case, your router), and DNS server. Check Wednesday's nightmare for more information about assigning IP address information.

If you have a wireless router, it probably advertises its network name, or SSID, at regular intervals to any device within range, making it easy for others to join your wireless network. Some routers let you turn off the beacon that puts your SSID on the air for everyone to see. Since your computers presumably already know your wireless network's SSID and have profiles instructing them to use it for their connection, consider turning off your router's beacon. Though not all routers let you turn the beacon off, many do. Check the router's browser-based configuration tool for a beacon switch.