Why does Windows 8 ask for modem PIN?

[kartikey_kant]

My friend had come to my house and when we tried to connect his windows 8 laptop to my house wifi, it asked for modem PIN. I was surprised why would it ask so? Is there any added security by doing that?

 

[Dauntae]

Most modems with wifi have a PIN on them, If the modem was from your internet provider the pin is on the label some place on the modem. They do this so no hacker can sit out side your house and hack places that can track your IP, If they did and tried to hack into the government then guys wearing funny clothing and guns may show up at your door. Not familiar with how it is in India but should be the same.

 

[carnageX]

The PIN is most likely for WPS.

It's the one-touch setup, or PIN entry (usually 8 digits or so), method to connect devices to your network. Now, it being a hardcoded pin is a huge security flaw, so you should just disable WPS if you can. Otherwise, there are tools out there that can use that PIN to authenticate with the router using brute force, and the attacker would then have access to your network (because it's authenticated with the WPS PIN, it gives the network key... so even if you change the network key, the attacker just has to run the tool and get the new network key (and knowing the PIN now, since it doesn't change, this will take seconds instead of hours).

 

[PP Mguire]

The PIN is most likely for WPS.

It's the one-touch setup, or PIN entry (usually 8 digits or so), method to connect devices to your network. Now, it being a hardcoded pin is a huge security flaw, so you should just disable WPS if you can. Otherwise, there are tools out there that can use that PIN to authenticate with the router using brute force, and the attacker would then have access to your network (because it's authenticated with the WPS PIN, it gives the network key... so even if you change the network key, the attacker just has to run the tool and get the new network key (and knowing the PIN now, since it doesn't change, this will take seconds instead of hours).

This, and this is essentially how hackers can easily gain access to your router

 

[carnageX]

This, and this is essentially how hackers can easily gain access to your router

That and most people also set the router login/password to the SSID/network key... not sure if that's something that the ISP guy does if they have them set it up, or if it's something the network setup discs that routers come with do automatically. Either way... it's a horrible practice lol.

 

[PP Mguire]

That and most people also set the router login/password to the SSID/network key... not sure if that's something that the ISP guy does if they have them set it up, or if it's something the network setup discs that routers come with do automatically. Either way... it's a horrible practice lol.

Hey at least that's a little better than admin/admin. Not going to lie, EVERY router I've "legally" got into was admin/admin.

ATT guys use your phone number in this area. TWC leaves it at admin/admin and the sad thing is in Arlington you don't have a choice between wireless router/modem or standalone. They give you the wireless and lock out access to the settings so you're pretty much left wide open. That's what initially forced me to buy a Surfboard last year. Then I found out you can hack them to bypass their lockout and usually even up your rate plan. Just my luck.

 

[carnageX]

Hey at least that's a little better than admin/admin. Not going to lie, EVERY router I've "legally" got into was admin/admin.

Lol I suppose that's true. Still, not a good practice to have since that's one of first things tried after the default admin/admin, admin/blank, or blank/admin