Three cheers for morons with unsecured wireless

[Asher]

Are you one? My new neighbours are, thank god. I'm not getting hooked up til tomorrow, but this is smokin' fast.

[SlowwHand]

Morons.

[Lancer]

I have unsecured wireless, am a moron, and I thank you for your kudos Asher.

[SlowwHand]

Is there a lot of wireless theft problems in the Phillipines?

[KrazyHorse]

Why are they morons? Until some guy started killing my bandwidth I left my wireless unsecured as a neighbourhood service.

[Asher]

It's far easier to compromise a computer on a local network (physical LAN or wireless). It's like leaving your front door unlocked.

[SlowwHand]

Why are they morons? Until some guy started killing my bandwidth I left my wireless unsecured as a neighbourhood service.

You kind of answered your own question, didn't you? To say nothing of donkeys and pre-teens going to your IP.

[KrazyHorse]

It's far easier to compromise a computer on a local network (physical LAN or wireless). It's like leaving your front door unlocked.

Eh. AFAIK there are more efficient ways to steal my identity than by driving around neighbourhoods looking for unsecured wireless networks and hacking in. And other than bank PINs or credit card numbers there's nothing especially valuable anybody could get from my computer.

[Dinner]

Why are they morons? Until some guy started killing my bandwidth I left my wireless unsecured as a neighbourhood service.

Me too and the college girls across the street even gave me cookies and said thank you for helping out. After they moved out some stupid frat boys moved in to their old place and it seemed like they were a bunch of bandwidth hogs so I had to lock everyone out. It seemed like a lot of people used it and, until the frat boys, no one caused me any noticeable ill effects.

[Lorizael]

It's far easier to compromise a computer on a local network (physical LAN or wireless). It's like leaving your front door unlocked.

Wouldn't you like to live in a world where you can feel safe with an unsecured wireless network, Asher?

[-Jrabbit]

I must admit that on the rare occasions where my cable has gone down, it has been very convenient to have a choice of about 4-5 unsecured networks nearby.

Mine, of course, is secure.

[Dis]

so out of curiosity... how would you find this unsecured wireless? What do you need to recieve it?

[Lorizael]

The same thing you use to connect to your own wireless network.

[Elok]

Hey, we have an unsecured network...but then, our nearest neighbors live roughly the length of a football field away. So, not a problem.

[Dis]

The same thing you use to connect to your own wireless network.

I don't have a wireless network.

[Theben]

I thought this thread would be about the cornflaker virus.

[-Jrabbit]

I don't have a wireless network.

If your comp has wi-fi capability, just turn it on. That should activate a screen that shows the wireless networks it can "see" in the neighborhood, and shows the signal strength. Unsecured networks usually have easy-to-ID default names (e.g., "linksys"). Just pick the strongest unsecured network and you're rockin'.

[MOBIUS]

Unfortunately I'm surrounded by non-altruistic Asher types...

[Asher]

I use WPA-2, I turn off SSID broadcasting, and I employ a MAC address filter on my custom-firmware router.

I've even turned down the transmission strength as it's overkill for the area it needs to cover.

Bulletproof.

[The Mad Monk]

so out of curiosity... how would you find this unsecured wireless? What do you need to recieve it?

My laptop attempts to access every network in range as soon as I turn it on. It's...embarrassing.

[Dis]

i only have a desktop, no wifi capabiliity. I'm just trying to understand what it is. Is it an antenna?

[-Jrabbit]

No wifi, no free internet. Bummer.

[The Mad Monk]

i only have a desktop, no wifi capabiliity. I'm just trying to understand what it is. Is it an antenna?

Yeah, but it's not one you would notice; sorta like a cellphone.

[snoopy369]

WiFi is just internet over radio waves (of a particular frequency, usually 2.4Ghz). You need either a motherboard that supports it built-in, or an external or internal card (external via USB usually, or internal as a PCI card) to access it. You need a router to provide it (or, someone else's!).

[onodera]

I use WPA-2, I turn off SSID broadcasting, and I employ a MAC address filter on my custom-firmware router.

I've even turned down the transmission strength as it's overkill for the area it needs to cover.

Bulletproof.

[KrazyHorse]

WiFi is just internet over radio waves (of a particular frequency, usually 2.4Ghz).

Technically this is into the microwave part of the spectrum, though some people do lump it in with radio.

[-Jrabbit]

Well, it's all just spectrum, and most of it can be used (to varying effectiveness) for any common application. Identifiers like AM, FM, VHF and UHF are really just historical markers.

It's all wireless, commonly called RF, which is short for "radio frequency" transmission. In the 30s, AM radio was commonly referred to as "wireless." In the 90s, "wireless" began referring to mobile telephony.

So yeah, "Radio waves" is accurate enough. The waves are all the same, after all, delineated only by frequency, amplitude and how they are modulated.

[snoopy369]

WiFi is just internet over radio waves (of a particular frequency, usually 2.4Ghz).

Technically this is into the microwave part of the spectrum, though some people do lump it in with radio.

If I said it worked via microwaves we'd have an awful lot of people scared shitless that their WiFi was cooking them

Also, JR, I suggest not lecturing KH on physics He's technically right, 'radio waves' are a specific range of EM radiation frequencies. Light, Radio, Microwave, etc.

[-Jrabbit]

As well they might!!!

[Lorizael]

If I said it worked via microwaves we'd have an awful lot of people scared shitless that their WiFi was cooking them

Not us, just our water.