[PreciousBbird]

I went to iStumbler and downloaded it. I then searched. I found me. It said yes to WEP and type was bss and it gave my MAC address (!) and said it was fresh and the Coordinates were nowhere. It also gave my SSID, which I thought wasn't available to the 'outside'. But maybe since it was me, it's not 'the outside'.

What does it all mean??? Should I change my SSID? I still haven't figured out how to make it not broadcast it . I have a Netgear MR814, Airport card, 867 single Quicksilver.

I am really concerned about security (for security's sake) and I guess I am wondering if this proves I have a problem...

Thank you.

sure hope GHPorter is roamin' the forums...

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by PreciousBbird:
I went to iStumbler and downloaded it. I then searched. I found me. It said yes to WEP and type was bss and it gave my MAC address (!) and said it was fresh and the Coordinates were nowhere. It also gave my SSID, which I thought wasn't available to the 'outside'. But maybe since it was me, it's not 'the outside'.

What does it all mean??? Should I change my SSID? I still haven't figured out how to make it not broadcast it . I have a Netgear MR814, Airport card, 867 single Quicksilver.

It lists the MAC address of the router, not your computer. The SSID is broadcast to allow users to find and join your LAN. Some routers allow you to disable broadcasting the SSID, but I believe that iStumbler would still find it, though I may be wrong about that. Go ahead and change the SSID, though. Go to config page then go to wireless access (or wireless page, whatever it's called...). It lists the SSID right at the top. Change it to anything you want, like "aaanortonisgod" or something.
You can't keep a determined individual out by any means available, but I wouldn't worry about it. In fact I don't. I broadcast my SSID, cuz my Asante doesn't allow me to hide it. Whatever. There are bigger issues for me to worry about. If you really want to keep people from sponging your broadband (that's probably the worst that would happen), change your SSID, channel and password every couple days. Anyone determined enough to follow along and keep getting in after that deserves the bandwith as far as I'm concerned. But that's not going to happen.

[macroy]

Originally posted by PreciousBbird:
....
What does it all mean??? Should I change my SSID? I still haven't figured out how to make it not broadcast it . I have a Netgear MR814, Airport card, 867 single Quicksilver.
....

Yes, change the SSID, also change your WEP key periodically (I do it every Mon and Thursday, like the trash). I have a FM114P, and I had to download a new firmware before I could disable the SSID broadcast. So you may want to check out netgears website just to see if a new firmware is available. In addition, you should use the MAC filter to only allow your system on.

Mine also allows me to disable the bridging between the wired and wireless segments. This means that the wireless systems will not be able to see the wired systems (of course, this won't help if you need to communicate between them). But his provides another layer of security as my servers can't be accessed by WarDrivers.

Of course, all this will only stop the "opportunists".