Wi-Fi Access - Please Help!

[Kc212]

Hello, I need some words of wisdom.

Is somebody able to access my wireless account here in my apartment building if they know the password? Or will my internet service provider somehow see this other person (likely in another apartment) connected to my account - and using my bandwidth.

Or should I simply monitor my bandwidth usage and make a strong password, ie - ISP won't be able to tell if somebody is stealing my bandwidth.

Thanks a lot!!

Kasey

 

[Osiris]

Yes they can.

Connection may be poor but then again it could be strong and they can hijack your wireless and get free net access.

All you need to do is enable WEP, WPA, etc and you should no worries.

 

[patonb]

Oh, and choose a random password with numbers and symbols.

 

[Shylock]

I have no doubts what so ever that Osiris knows what he's doing, but I strongly disagree with the statement that all you have to do is enable WEP and you'll have no worries. WEP is very weak, even if its better then nothing. WPA2 or even WPA is much better. your ISP doesn't care, nor will they see anyone else accessing your wireless service from another apartment. Nor will they know or track down who it is doing such. It is up to you, the person who is using wireless to secure it. And security is multifaceted thing really. a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and the same goes for security. No use buying a 4" steel door with deadbolts, if a person can just cut through drywall and two by four, and walk right in around it. disable SSID broadcast, use mac filtering, disable wan access to equipment, and seriously the best thing imo(the others are practically worthless but do help minorly.) : cut down your wireless broadcasting ability so the signal is just strong enough for you to use it, and not your neighborhood, change all default settings you can. also only enable enough dhcp ips that you use specifically. stuff like these are simple basic things. Think as if your in the woods and a huge grizzly bear is after you. sure a stick isn;t gonna stop him, but I know I'd throw everything I could between me and him, and hopefully something out of the mess will at least slow him down. Also, switching your passcodes and setups constantly is a major annoyance to anyone trying to use your network or system. and monitor your own traffic so you'll know. monitoring it from your system is useless btw....they wont go through your system when using your bandwidth. so it will do no good except to tell you its going slow.