Solved: Cracking my WEP....

[manomina]

I thought I posted this the other day, but I don't see it so here it goes again.

I have Comcast high speed internet and I set up a 128 WEP key. I have been told and heard that WEP is really easy to crack. I have known a few people that do that.

What I want to know is, how do I tell if someone has cracked my WEP....how can I protect myself from that. If someone cracks it, are they just able to get onto the internet or will my network be compromised.

Thanks!

 

[JohnWill]

Yes to both of the questions, they have free access to your network. I suggest WPA with a strong random key, that will solve the cracking issue.

If your network is compromised, there could be indications, or you may not see anything. If someone is connected, you can see that in the network status page of the router, all active connections will appear on the wireless.

 

[cwwozniak]

EDIT: Just to fill in a few more details in JohnWill's post ...

What I want to know is, how do I tell if someone has cracked my WEP

There is no way to tell if your WEP password is cracked but you may be able to tell if some cracker has used or is currently using your wireless connection. If your wireless router supports logging connection activity, you may be able to find wireless connections to devices your do not recognize or at times when you knew that there should not have been any connected computers running.

... how can I protect myself from that.

Switch to WPA-PSK encryption if all of your wireless devices support it. Use a very long WPA key that is mix of upper and lower case letters and numbers. Turn off the network hardware when not in use.

If someone cracks it, are they just able to get onto the internet or will my network be compromised.

Your network will be compromised. The person with the cracked wireless connection will be able to do anything that a person plugged in to the router LAN port could do. Tweaking each of your networked computer's file and printer sharing options and setting up a software firewall on each one may make it much more difficult for someone to steal or damage files on your computer.

Even if they only have access to the Internet, they could use the connection for illegal downloads of music and video files. That may result in lawyers from the RIAA or MPAA threatening to sue you for file sharing.

 

[JohnWill]

Blanks? You implying my posts have blanks?

 

[cwwozniak]

Blanks? You implying my posts have blanks?

I do not believe I ever used the word "blanks" in my post. I just wanted to pad out the information in your detailed and accurate post. (actually, I just didn't want to delete my post after seeing yours)

 

[manomina]

Thanks guys. I switched it to WPA.....no I'll go research it and see how that actually works. I thought I read that it constantly changes but I did put a long code in with everything. When I went to my Firewall > Security log I did see IPs that where nothing I was familiar with, so maybe someone was trying to hack in.....but anyway, I did change and & thanks for ya'lls help.

 

[JohnWill]

That should solve any issues with wireless freeloaders.

You can mark your own threads solved using the thread tools at the top of the page in the upper right corner.©

 

[manomina]

Thanks for the reminder to close....and thanks for the help.

 

[JohnWill]

You're welcome.