Using neighbours Unsecured wireless net?
15 February 2007, 04:47 PM
#1
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Using neighbours Unsecured wireless net?
I have a laptop that has the ability to pick up wireless internet access. I haven't got a router yet, but have done a network search with my computer and have found that one of my neighbours have an unsecured wireless. Is it illeagle for me to take advantage of this free broadband?
Cheers.
Cheers.
15 February 2007, 04:53 PM
#2
Dont think so, however if they ever bother to make the network secure then you would have to find otherways to get free broadband.
Shouldnt be too hard either as most companys seem to be offering a free broadband service of sorts, BT, Sky, NTL etc.
Shouldnt be too hard either as most companys seem to be offering a free broadband service of sorts, BT, Sky, NTL etc.
15 February 2007, 04:54 PM
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I have a laptop that has the ability to pick up wireless internet access. I haven't got a router yet, but have done a network search with my computer and have found that one of my neighbours have an unsecured wireless. Is it illeagle for me to take advantage of this free broadband?
Cheers.
Cheers.
There is a test case going though at the moment (according to R5 Live)
Ruling likely to be that if you ask your neighbour or whoevers' internet you want to use and they say yes then fine, otherwise it is illegal.
15 February 2007, 05:00 PM
#7
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Read this:
Law and disorder on the wireless LAN - 28 Jul 2005 - IT Week
Still not decided, but you would have to work hard to get caught. IMO, wireless networks are a whole new can of worms.
Imagine you decide to buy a wireless router for your home broadband. Imagine that a neighbour decided to use it to either run a mass file sharing enterprise, or worse still peddle child pornography.
Nightmare.
Law and disorder on the wireless LAN - 28 Jul 2005 - IT Week
Still not decided, but you would have to work hard to get caught. IMO, wireless networks are a whole new can of worms.
Imagine you decide to buy a wireless router for your home broadband. Imagine that a neighbour decided to use it to either run a mass file sharing enterprise, or worse still peddle child pornography.
Nightmare.
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15 February 2007, 05:09 PM
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15 February 2007, 05:12 PM
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Cheers guys. This is what i thought.
If was being bad, and used it accidently on purpose, would my neighbour know that i was using it?
If was being bad, and used it accidently on purpose, would my neighbour know that i was using it?
15 February 2007, 05:16 PM
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yeah it is illegal my wireless is unsecure at the moment because i cant remember how to fix it lol! but it asks if i want to let other people use the network which then your neighbours should know someone is trying to connect to it. so dont be so naughty and go and buy one for 50 quid from pc world 
15 February 2007, 05:42 PM
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Things is, say you had a PC world special router (i.e Belkin) set it up and use the default SSID name.
And if your neighbour has the same or similar name, how are you to distinguish between your network and someone elses? So it its quite conciveable to inadvertantly use someone else's network; That is if don't have any iota about net security. Ignorance is bliss, if you see a network on your seach, you'll automatically assume its your own
Whilst on the subject I had a call from a friends uncle (me being acclaimed as the whizz-kid doormat problem dumping ground
) Saying he just bought a networking kit....My heart sank. Infact my whole will to live nearly became non existant - as I know what Joe public is like with wireless nets. Thankfully all he wanted to know is if the card would work in any slot on the mother board, so one one line answer and I hung up and had some restored hope in life....but alas, I "knew" as soon as he set it up, it wouldn't work; Wireless networks never do work out the box; And certainly have no hope of working at the best of timewith Joe Blogs at the helm.
Next day I get a phone call...you guessed it "it wont work", I reach for a length of rope 
I hate wireless technology with a vengence, its crap, badly thought out, poorly implemented and only a IT geek can get it working properly; and even then it may need fiddling.
And if your neighbour has the same or similar name, how are you to distinguish between your network and someone elses? So it its quite conciveable to inadvertantly use someone else's network; That is if don't have any iota about net security. Ignorance is bliss, if you see a network on your seach, you'll automatically assume its your own
Whilst on the subject I had a call from a friends uncle (me being acclaimed as the whizz-kid doormat problem dumping ground
) Saying he just bought a networking kit....My heart sank. Infact my whole will to live nearly became non existant - as I know what Joe public is like with wireless nets. Thankfully all he wanted to know is if the card would work in any slot on the mother board, so one one line answer and I hung up and had some restored hope in life....but alas, I "knew" as soon as he set it up, it wouldn't work; Wireless networks never do work out the box; And certainly have no hope of working at the best of timewith Joe Blogs at the helm.Next day I get a phone call...you guessed it "it wont work", I reach for a length of rope
I hate wireless technology with a vengence, its crap, badly thought out, poorly implemented and only a IT geek can get it working properly; and even then it may need fiddling.
15 February 2007, 11:09 PM
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15 February 2007, 11:46 PM
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illegal......yes
immoral.....debatable
Lets put it this way, its the equivalent of finding a tenner on the street. You know that you should try and find the person who dropped it, but you never do. so whilst you should be a good neighbour and alert them to the fact that their network connection is unsecure, odds are you wont..well not until you have downloaded a shed load of ****
I have a nifty little tool on my laptop and many a time I have driven down streets, found an unsecure wireless network, jumped on it and done some emailing, browsing, logged into the office etc..
never once would I even bother trying to hack their actual network..there is no point and I would feel a tad bad, but using their connection for 30 mins..no problem.
Its in their interest to secure it..
immoral.....debatable
Lets put it this way, its the equivalent of finding a tenner on the street. You know that you should try and find the person who dropped it, but you never do
. so whilst you should be a good neighbour and alert them to the fact that their network connection is unsecure, odds are you wont..well not until you have downloaded a shed load of **** I have a nifty little tool on my laptop and many a time I have driven down streets, found an unsecure wireless network, jumped on it and done some emailing, browsing, logged into the office etc..
never once would I even bother trying to hack their actual network..there is no point and I would feel a tad bad, but using their connection for 30 mins..no problem.
Its in their interest to secure it..
16 February 2007, 12:17 AM
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16 February 2007, 12:33 AM
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http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wire...sshacks_chap1/
^ buggar !
oh well keeps out general numpties. The only way to keep ppl out totally is to have shat APs with poor signals
^ buggar !
oh well keeps out general numpties. The only way to keep ppl out totally is to have shat APs with poor signals
16 February 2007, 12:41 AM
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A mate of mine saw a top spec digital camera on the floor at a gig. He took it home rather than hand it in. Mainly becasue the staff at the venue looked like they would never hang onto it. He downloaded the pics and on there where some pics on the cameras owner.... He was an ugly, spotty faced ginger. Justice! lol
16 February 2007, 01:23 AM
#21
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As far as I'm concerned, it's Darwins principle in action, if you buy a wireless router, yet are too fecking stupid/lazy to properly secure it, you have no-one to blame but yourself if bad things happen as a result
It all boils down to one simple rule, if you don't understand how something works, you have two options, you can either;
a/ Arm yourself accordingly by doing some proper research into the subject or,
b/ Steer clear of it, and definitely do not put your ******* name to it!
If you chose neither of the above, you deserve eveyhing you get, muppet
16 February 2007, 09:49 AM
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I agree with CrisPDuk, if you are too stupid to secure your EM emissions into my house /car, why should I actively disable my equipment to compensate for you.
If someone wants to Scan, monitor decrypt my WEP and hidden SSID then good luck to them. I have taken reasonable precautions.
Agree the child **** side would be a nitemare......
If someone wants to Scan, monitor decrypt my WEP and hidden SSID then good luck to them. I have taken reasonable precautions.
Agree the child **** side would be a nitemare......
16 February 2007, 12:21 PM
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Wireless networks never do work out the box; And certainly have no hope of working at the best of timewith Joe Blogs at the helm.
I hate wireless technology with a vengence, its crap, badly thought out, poorly implemented and only a IT geek can get it working properly; and even then it may need fiddling.
I hate wireless technology with a vengence, its crap, badly thought out, poorly implemented and only a IT geek can get it working properly; and even then it may need fiddling.
I think that's a sweeping generalisation to say the least.........
Geezer
16 February 2007, 12:39 PM
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I must say, I bought a wireless router/modem, a card for my laptop, switched them on and it worked first time, no problem. Even when I switched it to WPA-PSK encryption, all I had to do was decide on a pass key for the router and then type that into my laptop, and still it worked fine.
I think that's a sweeping generalisation to say the least.........
Geezer
I think that's a sweeping generalisation to say the least.........
Geezer
If its unsecured, its not setup properly.D-link routers are hopeless out the box (work fine without security, fall to pieces when WEP or WPA-PSK is enabled), Belkin, Philips to name a few others. Infact, I'm popping out in half an hour to sort out my freind's uncle's WLAN for tonight's beer money.
Wish me luck.
16 February 2007, 01:04 PM
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just to add, the only decent way to secure a home router is with
WPA/TKIP/AES with a long password (64 random characters being best) or even better
WPA2/AES with a long password (64 random characters being best)
SSID hiding, MAC filtering, DHCP disabling doesnt really give any security at all.
WPA-PSK Key Generator | Kurt's Website
if your current router cant work well with WPA, I'd get another one
WPA/TKIP/AES with a long password (64 random characters being best) or even better
WPA2/AES with a long password (64 random characters being best)
SSID hiding, MAC filtering, DHCP disabling doesnt really give any security at all.
WPA-PSK Key Generator | Kurt's Website
if your current router cant work well with WPA, I'd get another one
16 February 2007, 02:03 PM
#27
Oh and turn your transmitter power down, they all seem to come set to 100% signal strength, mine is set at 12%, hopefully this may help with some of the as yet proven or unporoven health effects plus why transmit further than you need to ?
Mine now doesnt allow me to connect from our bedroom via my mobile, which is fine as I dont use it in there, that means that the neighbours wont pick it up either, trouble is, I can pick up six or seven networks off our road that have a higher signal strength in my bedroom than my own does !
So regardless of the security methods employed, if there isnt a signal to intercept it is more secure, might have to turn mine up a bit to reach to my new garden cabin though, not sure if the 100m ethernet cable buried 700 mm down is going to work.
Mine now doesnt allow me to connect from our bedroom via my mobile, which is fine as I dont use it in there, that means that the neighbours wont pick it up either, trouble is, I can pick up six or seven networks off our road that have a higher signal strength in my bedroom than my own does !
So regardless of the security methods employed, if there isnt a signal to intercept it is more secure, might have to turn mine up a bit to reach to my new garden cabin though, not sure if the 100m ethernet cable buried 700 mm down is going to work.
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