Wireless Hacking...

[Nox]

kinda hiding this post in here, but its probably in completely the wrong section!

Is it just me or is tomshardware being somewhat irresponsible in providing a guide on how to hack into a wireless network (I haven't read much of it) I know the information is freely available on the internet anyway, but really shoving it in peoples faces?

Hope they have a follow up on how to protect yourself... Personally, I don't use wireless networking, for exactly those reasons.

I should probably have a proper read before passing judgement

Nox

[Lee H]

Not really as many people who are using wireless have not EVEN changed the default passwords to their equipment or ENABLED any security at all.

In a recent post, I told of going to my brothers house and logging to what I thought was his Buffalo router, only to be greeted with a USR menu system of a wireless network that was totally insecure and not EVEN passworded or changed from the default settings. Its still like that now... After 12 WEEKS.

Grab a laptop that works with netstumbler and go for a short drive. You will be suprised to how many Routers you will find that have "admin" "admin" or "admin" "password" as their logins and shocked to see at least 25% of the networks are not even WEP, WPA encypted and can be accessed by all and sundry.

[Barry]

Alot of people think plug and play means you don't have to bother with anything else or that 'it will never happen to them' :/

[autopilot]

Is it just me or is tomshardware being somewhat irresponsible in providing a guide on how to hack into a wireless network

No, in fact some people may say they are being responsible. Forcing the issue on a mainstreem hardware site may have the effect of more people becoming security minded. May even force the equiment/software vendors to spend more money and time on improving security. The thing is that if only a few people can do it then the vendors concider it less of an issue and feel they can ignore and let a few security holes go. It also proves these insane standards race's have a negative effect for end users too.

[Paul Adams]

It is irresponsible as many people who buy wireless kit will not even know about the existence of the article and assume that WEP is a decent level of security and the highest that their hardware can support.
In a lot of cases even if you were aware, the hardware can't be modified to support WPA so the only recourse is to buy new kit.

I rather feared this day would come, when a Noddy-guide to WEP cracking would be produced, as up until now it has been a case of collecting scattered bits of information yourself and having some technical knowledge.

I have been trying my best to hint that WEP isn't bullet proof, but it usually just starts arguments!

They may as well have called the article "W3P h4xx0r1n9 /\/\@d3 EZ".

[autopilot]

I can see both sides of the arument. Tom's Hardware may be irresponsile, they may also be providing a valuble sevice in demonstating how unsecure WiFi is. Someone needs to. Either way, I think the people who have been most irresponsible are the hardware vendors.

[darrensen]

There are 2 Wirless networks in my area.......no password to use their connection and also both routers are using default passwords........and to top it off...........on of the locations had their C Drive shared!!!!!!!!!

[autopilot]

There are 2 Wirless networks in my area.......no password to use their connection and also both routers are using default passwords........and to top it off...........on of the locations had their C Drive shared!!!!!!!!!

Doh. Leave them a nice text file message on the desktop explaining that they need to improve there security. No haxor rubish though, tell them who you are and why you did it.

[darrensen]

Lol, Yeah i could do but its nice sitting in bed using their connection. I dont have wireless at home you see.

[Lee H]

I have been trying my best to hint that WEP isn't bullet proof, but it usually just starts arguments!

They may as well have called the article "W3P h4xx0r1n9 /\/\@d3 EZ".

This is why I always tend to use mac address filtering or IPSEC if the equipment supports it

[smtkr]

People never learn either. There was a wireless network with all default settings two falls ago. I kept logging in as admin and shutting off wireless routing. The next day, the thing was restored in its default state. I played this game for about a week, thinking the person would get annoyed and actually enable WPA, but I failed. Here, 18 months later, the retard is still running the same setup. I guess the only way to teach the bastard is to do some malicious hacking via his connection.