Wireless Router - Security

[Dav0s]

ok all sorted guys, with only some minor problems...

i installed tomato firmware straight away, and one of the XP machines connected wired straight away, all worked fine.

my XP machine i had to manually do the ip and dns addresses, ditto with the ps3.

the vista laptop for ages just wouldnt say anything other than unindentified network, local access only, but eventually i changed a registry setting, and then had to manually enter the IP address for that to work aswell.

can somebody explain why DHCP isnt working properly? its al set up in my router settings, what else can be stopping my pc's being assigned IP addys automatically?

anyway its all set up now and i can definately vouch for tomato, its really slick and easy to use, and so far so good on the stability front, no reboots and most settings dont need reboots if you change them.

i went for WPA2 security since the router supports it. ionicle, you can detect a network automatically on wpa/wpa2, maybe check your settings? WEP is more of a pain than WPA anyway because you have to write down a long key, whereas wpa is just a password which is easy to remember.

 

[bonesaw]

Basically you only need to use WPA2 (or even just WPA), turn off SSID broadcasting and change any default password, you should be fine with only that. If you're paranoid, you can also do MAC filtering and register the devices (by MAC address) that can use the router...

 

[Pseudonym]

^ Network stumbler shows hidden SSIDs and I used to change my MAC address at will with another program.

If your attacker can get past WPA or WPA2 then you're screwed anyway. I doubt anyone would really bother though, as without a signal booster/cantenna I get 2 unsecured networks, one of which allows me hasn't changed the default password. they're lucky it's just me and not some unscrupulous *******.

Glad to hear the install has gone OK. Haven't a clue why it's not working, but having set IPs has it's own benefits, you can port forward for those times you want to use P2P software, or need one to have a virtual LAN. It might also confuse an attacker.

 

[Rastalovich]

Good way to cap ur security is to set the number of allowable computers to connect to exactly what u have

Isn`t tomato limited on dhcp ? There was a reason why I didn`t use it or dd-wrt or something - either that or port forwarding limitations.

Something to the effect that it `works`.

 

[Hyper]

As others have said WPA is much more secure then WEP and I find it easier to remember since its just a word rather than a random string of letters.

 

[nathan]

Good way to cap ur security is to set the number of allowable computers to connect to exactly what u have

dont they usually work by concurrent connections? so if you set it to 5 computers and only 4 were turned on, there would be 1 space left for someone to connect?

 

[Rastalovich]

Yeah and depending on how good the router is, they don`t always refresh the number of pcs connected. Often if u set it to 4 and only have 1 pc, but keep messing about with the plug/unplugging, it can build up to 4.

So if u only have 1 pc and set it to 1, there no room for any1 else.

 

[anklebiter]

lol, I've just downgraded- from wireless to wired. Got me a nice 30m flat LAN cable and ran it under carpets, up stairs and around skirting boards as frankly I was pretty sick of the crap ping and connection drops my wireless was giving me. Also it's pretty secure to boot, but good luck with your router.

I can completely sympathise with this view, if you have a Desktop then it should be wired imo, however

all the advise is great WPA PSK 128 bit encryption - just dont use WEP as any 12 year old can hack that in 15 mins and yeah they do bother..