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Open WiFi in this day and age is kind of stupid. I have to think that with BabelFish, or what ever they had in 2008 I could secure a router regardless of the la

by x0054 13y ago

Open WiFi in this day and age is kind of stupid. I have to think that with BabelFish, or what ever they had in 2008 I could secure a router regardless of the language.

kennywinker 13y ago
I'm not an expert in wifi security, but aren't most securing methods pretty hackable? In 2008, what are the odds that his landlady had a WEP router that could be hacked in 30 seconds?
- abritishguy 13y ago
  WPA is the default for most routers and can be considered "secure" for the purposes of a home network.
  - nwh 13y ago
    Many routers sold use their own serial number as the WPA key though, and have a lot of the serial number in the default SSID. It's something I'm constantly telling my friends to fix.
    - test1235 13y ago
      You're implying that the password is the same as the SSID?
      - nwh 13y ago
        Yes. http://www.hakim.ws/st585/KevinDevine/ http://www.hakim.ws/st585/KevinDevine/ The same applies to many brands, not just the one in this example.
- x0054 13y ago
  It's target hardening. If you have some security, the criminals will simply move on to someone who has none.
mcherm 13y ago
> Open WiFi in this day and age is kind of stupid. Why? I genuinely want to know. What harm is there if my WiFi is open? Is there a danger that someone will use up my bandwidth? (I don't really care.) Is there a risk that evil [child pornographers / terrorists / whoever it is we hate this week] will use my open WiFi connection and thus be completely untraceable (which they could never have achieved without my assistance)?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- rquirk 13y ago
  If your IP is traced to images of child abuse then you will at the very least have a lot of explaining to do. Is it really worth running the risk of someone using your open wifi for this? Firesheep is another example of why not. If you use WPA then even plain http traffic is encrypted from your computer to the wireless router. If you have completely open wifi then the traffic between your computer and the router is in the plain for everyone to inspect freely.

by x0054 13y ago

Open WiFi in this day and age is kind of stupid. I have to think that with BabelFish, or what ever they had in 2008 I could secure a router regardless of the language.

kennywinker 13y ago

I'm not an expert in wifi security, but aren't most securing methods pretty hackable? In 2008, what are the odds that his landlady had a WEP router that could be hacked in 30 seconds?

abritishguy 13y ago
WPA is the default for most routers and can be considered "secure" for the purposes of a home network.
- nwh 13y ago
  Many routers sold use their own serial number as the WPA key though, and have a lot of the serial number in the default SSID. It's something I'm constantly telling my friends to fix.
  - test1235 13y ago
    You're implying that the password is the same as the SSID?
    - nwh 13y ago
      Yes. http://www.hakim.ws/st585/KevinDevine/ http://www.hakim.ws/st585/KevinDevine/ The same applies to many brands, not just the one in this example.
x0054 13y ago
It's target hardening. If you have some security, the criminals will simply move on to someone who has none.

mcherm 13y ago

> Open WiFi in this day and age is kind of stupid. Why? I genuinely want to know. What harm is there if my WiFi is open? Is there a danger that someone will use up my bandwidth? (I don't really care.) Is there a risk that evil [child pornographers / terrorists / whoever it is we hate this week] will use my open WiFi connection and thus be completely untraceable (which they could never have achieved without my assistance)?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
rquirk 13y ago
If your IP is traced to images of child abuse then you will at the very least have a lot of explaining to do. Is it really worth running the risk of someone using your open wifi for this? Firesheep is another example of why not. If you use WPA then even plain http traffic is encrypted from your computer to the wireless router. If you have completely open wifi then the traffic between your computer and the router is in the plain for everyone to inspect freely.