I've never had a wireless router but am considering it for the house. I know I can password protect the signal but I'm just wondering if there is still a risk of outside sources hacking in to the signal to see my browsing history. You know, websites like grasscity(dot)com
First there is a risk yes. But now how high is that risk... Today there is a lot of free open Wifi access everywhere, so a hacker would want to target you specifically... and if that's the case Wifi or not, you are not protected AND that guy will not likely look for your browsing history Let's be serious, if you take a wifi router, put a WPA password and encrypt and if paranoid, put some MAC address filtering (just google all these terms) then you WILL be as secured as you are without wifi. It is not easy to hack an encrypted Wifi connection without any physical access to the router. My 2 cents
YES! Get a linksys router, what you can do it put your ethernet id of each of your computers in the access list and with out without security, no one can access the network. I would not be concerned about that though, if you are paranoid, I would get some proxy software, your IP address can be recorded by every site that you visit and also be used and found with a packet sniffer.
Yes, there's always a risk of hacking a wireless signal. Nothing's 100% foolproof, but security measures will foil all but the most determined hacker. My list of suggestions for security (assuming the router and wireless cards support them): Strong password--mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols. The strongest passwords don't use any words found in a dictionary. WPA2-AES encryption Don't broadcast the router SSID. The connection will still be there but any machine will need to know it as well as the password to connect to it, in most cases. MAC address reservation/filtering (mentioned before) Personally I like routers with dd-wrt support since it's very customizable and allows for use of these. Though I highly doubt they'll hack your network just for your browsing history.
^This^. Excellent advice. I use an insane password, WPA2 encryption (TKIP+AES), and MAC filtering. DD-WRT rocks, can boost the shit out of your signal strength when you need too as well. Cover a city block... Linksys #WRT54GL (L stands for Linux-based router, so you can reload/reflash with DD-WRT)
Ok thanks, lots of lingo here so I'll do some searches for what you folk say. I was just asking for a friend anyways
I recommend getting a VPN (virtual private network). There are a few good ones out there. Personally I like Secure Anonymous Internet Service Provider - Secure Anonymous VPN, Secure Anonymous OpenSSH, Secure Anonymous Proxies, and Email with Security Services :: SecureNetics.com the best. You can find others, but be sure that they store NO logs on their servers. That will eliminate anyone being able to trace any of your traffic back to you, even your ISP.
Thanks I'll look into it. Till then it's wires and cables. All this computer talk makes me wanna play 'pong' on the good 'ol Atari. Damn!, I wish I still had that thing.
Wireless is never as secure as cabled. MAC addresses can easily be spoofed, WPA keys can get cracked, though granted WPA2-PSK keys at least require a bit more effort. But if Johnny-Law is your concern, they do have more than one computer to go at the task... Basic advice is, anything you'd like to keep private with regards to your net-habits, should be via cable. Only ones who can intercept such traffic, assuming you are not infected with some logging spy-ware, is a law enforcement agency with a search warrant. To spoil such spying, you need to access the internet via VPN to an encrypted proxy. Look into the TOR network