Need A Little Help

[Groundrush]

Hey guys (gals) as you can guess from the title I'm having prob's securing my network. My flat mate has got herself a wireless laptop and has asked me to set up a network, she's supplied all the gear and as the line comes into my work station I've got to set things up here.

 

Ok all Is up and running but she's paranoid about the wireless network not being secure, which Is understandable. So, me being a complete noob to this I need to ask for some assistance In securing the network and how to turn on encryption from within WinXP(home). What I really need to do Is get my hands on her Laptop (behave, this Is serious ) so I can configure It accordingly. I've googled the topic but seem to be going round In circles and can't find a simple answer.

 

So here I am asking all you Guru's within the forum to help a mere mortal like myself....... :thumbs:

[cornholio7]

don't you have a router?

if not just use the wireless network wizard (or is that only in pro?)

[Groundrush]

Hey corny, thanks for the quick reply. I have the router here which Is hardwired to my pc but my flatmate links wireless where she gets the message " unsecure wireless network". How do you rectify that.....? :thumbs:

[cornholio7]

i have mine set up from within the routers setup page, the wireless tab within the setup pages allows me to choose the encryption type and set the password, then you just have to set her laptop up with the password, its unsecure because you havent set the encryption

[DasReich]

Hi, Ive set up 2 wireless networks at home and like Corny I used the installation setup to secure the network with a password of my choice, was quite simple really. To access the network from any other source you would need to know the network password.

Thats all I did, maybe theres another way, but I didnt read anything anywhere about it.

 

Dave.

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

For added security, check the routers' firewall settings for allowed MAC addresses. (A MAC address is basically a digital fingerprint unique to your network cards). If your router is configured to allow connections from PCs with those specific MAC addresses (even without encryption) no outside PC will be able to connect to your network.

 

EDIT: To get the MAC address of your network card type this into a command prompt:

 

 

 

ipconfig /all

 

 

 

You'll get your IP address, your gateway and your MAC address which will look something like:

 

 

00-E4-57-1F-E3-09

 

 

Open up your router settings and add the number for each card to the page called "MAC Filtering" or something similar.

[dontasciime]

yep shamus point is best, lock down the mac address as well as set up wep

 

eg you supply hex 10 digit key for her router and match the same key in operating system.

 

Do not get router to generate key for you add one manually.

 

enable firewall in router, also set up any other security features like, Block Anonymous Internet Requests , disable remote management.

[Kenadjian]

Agreed, locking down by mac address is by far the most secure.

[spinningwheel]

Agreed, locking down by mac address is by far the most secure.

 

Agreed, that's all I use with the Netgear wireless and I've not had a problem. Both laptops are logged in by MAC address and nothing else can/has gotten in....

[Groundrush]

thanks for all the Info' guys. Can't do anything at the moment, but I'm sure we'll get everything sorted tomorrow and keep you posted....

Edited September 15, 2006 by Groundrush

[LIGHTNING UK!]

wpa / wpa2 is the encryption type you want.

 

You then just add a password phrase of 8 - 63 characters.

 

Something like 'ImgBurnRocks!'

 

Just make sure you have recent wireless drivers for your laptops or they might not support wpa.

 

Don't forget the firmware on the router too!

[Pain_Man]

and now for something completely unhelpful...

 

I went wireless so I could surf the Net on my laptop.

 

I bought a Linksys Wireless Router (WR54G? something like that).

 

Assembly was easy. Popped the Linksys CD in the burner. Followed the directions: plugged the ethernet cable from the cable modem into the router (and another e'net cable into my desktop).

 

A Wizard came up, generated a gazillion alpha-numeric password, bada-bing, bada-boom and it was secured.

 

Unfortunately, I live in radio/cell hell so the router's signal gets dropped more often than it should. (It's so bad, we couldn't use our cell until we changed the type of network we were using! And the cordless phones are plagued by all kinds of crap.)

Edited September 16, 2006 by Pain_Man

[Groundrush]

Thanks guys, I have a querey about the MAC Address Filtering posted by Shamus.

All the Id's/codes/serials........are In the relevant feilds and enabled, but to the top of the window there Is......

 

Access Rule for registered MAC address > [ ] Allow [x] Deny

 

Currently the Deny Is checked, can anyone clarifiy this for me Insofar what does It do/mean and should I Allow or Deny this feature.

Edited September 16, 2006 by Groundrush

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Well I would guess that Allow means everyone ON the list has access and Deny means everyone NOT ON the list has access.

 

So unless you want to add every MAC Address in the world to the list (other than your own!), I would go with 'Allow'.

 

Of course if this is a per MAC address option rather than a global one (lol global would be shit!), just type in your own ones and select Allow.

[Groundrush]

Duh... Thanks BOSS

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

Groundrush: Your MAC filtering page will look something like this. Apologies for the size but it'll give you an idea. The MAC addresses in the list below correspond to various network adapters in use on my network (PCs, XBox etc) and are the only ones allowed access to the router.

 

[Groundrush]

Thanks Shamus, I've set the MAC Address feild accordingly. Ali (flatmate) Is at work so I can't check If the card ID Is correct, although I'm sure It Is going by the data stored from yesterday. Anyway, I'll find out later this evening and let you know the outcome. I'm sure all will be OK.....

[Groundrush]

<Update>

Job done, thanks guys for all the input, MAC Filtering is all set and the wireless side is secrured with WEP which i know will make Ali' happy. It's simple when you know how:blush:

 

This from me....

 

And this is from Ali'....

Edited September 17, 2006 by Groundrush

[Kenadjian]

<Update>

 

 

And this is from Ali'....

Was this for you? Or us?

[Groundrush]

She told me to say thank you all for your help, so yes, It's for YOU guys. From her.

[Kenadjian]

Thanks, tell her we all appreciate it.

[lfcrule1972]

Shame you just secured the wireless network - we could have all logged in and taken a look at her pics on her HDD

[Groundrush]

Shame you just secured the wireless network - we could have all logged in and taken a look at her pics on her HDD

 

Pictures...!! Na, you should have seen the video's =))

[Pain_Man]

For added security, check the routers' firewall settings for allowed MAC addresses. (A MAC address is basically a digital fingerprint unique to your network cards). If your router is configured to allow connections from PCs with those specific MAC addresses (even without encryption) no outside PC will be able to connect to your network.

 

EDIT: To get the MAC address of your network card type this into a command prompt:

 

 

 

ipconfig /all

 

 

 

You'll get your IP address, your gateway and your MAC address which will look something like:

 

 

00-E4-57-1F-E3-09

 

 

Open up your router settings and add the number for each card to the page called "MAC Filtering" or something similar.

 

 

Seamus:

 

Is this what you're talking about?

 

 

 

OK, ipconfig /all worked. But this is not applicable if you just have a wireless 'Net router. There's no UI. Granted it could be because of the brain damage I suffered during my fourteen combat tours in the Psychic Wars.

 

One thing I have noticed is that the number of attempted "intrustions"--ZoneAlarm speak--has declined from several a week, to a total of six in the last year.

 

I've also turned off ZA and gone to the Shields Up! test and it still shows my machine is completely stealthed from the 'Net. So, something's working.

 

Edited September 19, 2006 by Pain_Man

[Pain_Man]

@don't....

 

The clue is becoming recognizeable...y'all aren't talking about wireless routers....

 

But more directly on point to your post:

 

Isn't a machine more likely to generate a truly random number than a person picking one themselves? Somewhere I've got a program that generates passwords for you.

 

The Linksys software generated the password by itself.

 

 

eg you supply hex 10 digit key for her router and match the same key in operating system.

 

Do not get router to generate key for you add one manually.