Guide: Protect Your Wireless Network
By Ian Bell
June 19, 2004
We have just posted an article that will show you how to protect your wireless network. Have a neighbor that likes to bum off your internet? Put an end to it finally!
Quote from the article at Designtechnica:
"Drive through a few neighborhoods in your area with a WiFi-enabled laptop or PDA and one thing will become quite clear: there are a lot of wireless networks out there. But take a closer look at those networks and a more disconcerting trend will become obvious: people don't know how to - or just choose not to - secure their wireless networks.
A recent Associated Press article detailed an 800-mile drive in the San Jose, Calif. area in which over 3,600 wireless access points were detected. According to the article, nearly 40 percent of those networks were completely wide-open. "Wardriving", as it's called, is a popular hobby with several Websites devoted to the subject. But while most wardrivers do it for amusement, unchecked access to a wireless network can cause quite a bit of damage. CNN even ran a recent report about "warflying" — flying over populated areas to detect wireless hotspots. In the report, they detailed a warflying trip in which over 3,000 wireless networks were detected and over 67 percent of the networks did not have any encryption enabled. "