How do you know if someone is trying to hack your wifi?

[donanderson]

Hey all, I was wondering what are the signs that someone is trying to hack your wifi router? Recently I started having connection issues to my modem/router. The connection would just drop and my router would be inaccessible for sometimes hours and it didn't matter if I had a hard wire to it or was using the wifi. I just couldn't connect. But when I called Qwest they could connect to the modem and it looked fine from their end. I had the modem/router replaced and the replacement started doing the same thing. So I went into the settings and realized I had the firewall disabled and I had not setup an admin password. I don't think I did this with the other modem either. I immediately remedied the situation with a firmware update and then setup all the passwords and haven't had a problem since. Could these be signs that someone was jacking around with my router?

[Savan]

Hey all, I was wondering what are the signs that someone is trying to hack your wifi router? Recently I started having connection issues to my modem/router. The connection would just drop and my router would be inaccessible for sometimes hours and it didn't matter if I had a hard wire to it or was using the wifi. I just couldn't connect. But when I called Qwest they could connect to the modem and it looked fine from their end. I had the modem/router replaced and the replacement started doing the same thing. So I went into the settings and realized I had the firewall disabled and I had not setup an admin password. I don't think I did this with the other modem either. I immediately remedied the situation with a firmware update and then setup all the passwords and haven't had a problem since. Could these be signs that someone was jacking around with my router?

 

 

Im no wifi expert, but I doubt someone would turn off your access to the router when they were using it. Unless its just some neighborhood kid trying to mess with you. It does seem odd that setting a password would stop it if it wasnt someone hacking you.

 

 

[Guest ajmatson]

What encryption are you using on your router? WEP, WPA, WPA2, IPSec? I have had people try to hack into mine before and I actually ran off a war driver. Make sure you use WPA2 which uses AES for encryption and disable your SSID. You never know who's watching and could disable your router to be an s$$ I actually use IPSec with my routers and the clients has to authenticate with my RADIUS server, extreme yes but I take network security heavily

[SpeedCrazy]

I actually use IPSec with my routers and the clients has to authenticate with my RADIUS server, extreme yes but I take network security heavily

Could you explain how to set that up as my wifi has been hacked several times. Someone even changed my password once.

[donanderson]

I think I'm just going to go to a cabled connection. I held off going wireless for many many years simply because of this possible issue. I was just watching this video on how easy it is to hack a wifi connection with a program called cowpatty. It's just not worth the risk.

[mattyamdfanboi]

its not that easy to hack into wifi if ur using WPA or WPA2 or anything further then that.. its not really that easy as the packets that have any info in them arent anywhere near as easy to pick s it was when ppl ran WEP.. if ur using WEP.. then ur screwed lol time to move forward

 

and then if ur still wanna be a sooky lala about it, just use MAC addresses.. then u dont even need a password because if u dont have the MAC address on ur router.. no1 is getting in and u cant fake a MAC address (harder to fake sorry) and its even harder to try and pick it seeing as every single network device including wireless printers and stuff like that all have an individual MAC address...

 

so set up ur MAC address (numbers on the actual network card) and set up a password, use WPA2 and u wont have a problem.. ever..

 

Good luck!

Edited October 28, 2010 by mattyamdfanboi

[fire_storm]

Could you explain how to set that up as my wifi has been hacked several times. Someone even changed my password once.

 

RADIUS and IPSEC are typically expensive and complicated and time consuming to setup I'd just use a strong WPA or WPA2 password and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

 

its not that easy to hack into wifi if ur using WPA or WPA2 or anything further then that.. its not really that easy as the packets that have any info in them arent anywhere near as easy to pick s it was when ppl ran WEP.. if ur using WEP.. then ur screwed lol time to move forward

 

and then if ur still wanna be a sooky lala about it, just use MAC addresses.. then u dont even need a password because if u dont have the MAC address on ur router.. no1 is getting in and u cant fake a MAC address (harder to fake sorry) and its even harder to try and pick it seeing as every single network device including wireless printers and stuff like that all have an individual MAC address...

 

so set up ur MAC address (numbers on the actual network card) and set up a password, use WPA2 and u wont have a problem.. ever..

 

Good luck!

 

It's well know that using MAC address filtering doesn't really do anything to secure your wireless network you can find someones MAC address very easily with a packet sniffer and spoofing mac addresses isn't that hard either.

 

Also it's not really that hard to find out who the mac address belongs to because all you have to do is look up the first 6 numbers in a mac address database and it will give you the vendor name.

[SpeedCrazy]

Also it's not really that hard to find out who the mac address belongs to because all you have to do is look up the first 6 numbers in a mac address database and it will give you the vendor name.

How exactly does the vendor name give you someones name?

[Waco]

How exactly does the vendor name give you someones name?

It doesn't.

[SpeedCrazy]

Exactly so what point was he trying to make?

[krazypoloc]

I don't like where this thread is headed.....whatever you do just don't listen to mattyamdfanboi....thats all I'm gonna say about that.....

[Guest ajmatson]

RADIUS and IPSEC are typically expensive and complicated and time consuming to setup I'd just use a strong WPA or WPA2 password and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

 

 

 

It's well know that using MAC address filtering doesn't really do anything to secure your wireless network you can find someones MAC address very easily with a packet sniffer and spoofing mac addresses isn't that hard either.

 

Also it's not really that hard to find out who the mac address belongs to because all you have to do is look up the first 6 numbers in a mac address database and it will give you the vendor name.

 

Correct, I am an IT Network Security Engineering student so this is part of my full lab setup. It takes a lot of time and money. MAC spoofing is easier than you know and will not stop anyone who knows anything about wireless or networking. For my clients I recommend using WPA2 with a strong shared key (pass phrase) as well as disabling the SSID so your not broadcasting to the whole neighborhood. WPA2 uses AES encryption and is uncrackable at the moment. This will secure you pretty well