[david33]

How can you tell if someone unwanted is connecting to your wireless network? I just bought an airport express for my family's wirless network and it's been working fine until earlier today when the connection suddenly started to break up. I attempted to restart my computer but then I got a message saying that someone was accessing my computer through local filesharing. I thought the AE would block unwanted intruders from accessing the wireless connection with its password, but someone seemingly got through it. I reset the settings on the AE and applied a new password. The connection is still much slower than it was earlier today. Should I be alarmed? What can I do to protect my network other than requiring passwords? How can I tell who's connected to my wifi? I never had this problem with my last wireless router (netgear). I only switched to AE because of the wireless printing options...

[Captain Obvious]

MAC filtering, WEP, turn off SSID and change the last two every other month.

It should be near impossible for someone to get on your connection with that unless they want to spend a lot of time doing it.

[ghporter]

I'd add that you should use WPA instead of WEP if it's available. Both are encryption systems, but WPA is far more effective.

Turning off SSID is no longer considered a useful action-it's too easy to snif out what it is for disabling SSID broadcast to do any good. Just make sure you change it to something other than the default. And of course change the admin password of your wireless system!

[david33]

I will do everything you two have advised. Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

[larkost]

Oh... and the MAC filtering is just as venerable... It will just complicate your life when you get a new computer. WPA has not been broken by anything less than a complete dictionary attack, and is by itself enough security.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by larkost

WPA has not been broken by anything less than a complete dictionary attack, and is by itself enough security.

Let me expand on this. The only successful attacks on WPA have been against VERY POORLY CHOSEN passphrases. They were short, and consisted completely of dictionary words. At the very least you should make your passphrase very long-it can be up to 63 characters. You should also mix it up to defeat any dictionary attack; use "leet" conventions, spell things backward, and so on. Considering how seldom you'll have to manually enter the passphrase, it may be a good idea to simply generate a very long random password which includes upper and lower case letters, numbers, punctuation and symbols.

In other words, when setting up WPA, do the small amount of extra effort to make sure you aren't shortchanging yourself. With WPA set up properly, you are about as secure as you can get.

(I disagree about MAC filtering, though. It discourages outsiders like a locked front door-sure, you can get through it with some effort, but why not check the next front door and not go to any extra effort at all? Adding a new computer's MAC is a one-time thing and not really that painful.)

[Partisan01]

My guess is it has nothing to do with someone stealing your wireless, but more with interference. I'm not sure where you live, but I'm in an apartment. When the woman above my talks on her cordless phone my internet drops off totally. I can sometimes get a weak signal, but ping times fluctuate all over the place. I can hear her talking on the patio, when the conversation is done...instant access again. Same thing happens with my parents' wireless network and their cordless phone.

Many things can interfere with a wireless network, microwave, phone, if you live close to a radio tower, a ham enthusiast in the neighborhood. It's a public band we're all sharing, so interference is expected. If you want 100% reliability use a wired network for your connection.

p.s. - I still encourage you to use encryption, but it might not solve anything. I have encryption on my network and it still drops off with interference.

Best of luck