question about all the wifi networks in my area

[berry120]

yes, mine is secure using wep.

No, it's not.

but you'd need to already be on the MAC whitelist to be able to access the routers control panel

WEP is never secure in the sense that anyone who wants to or can be bothered *can* crack it. There's no question about that, you can use mac filtering or hide the SSID, but that's really just a nicety and provides 0 real security.

Yes, it's unlikely that anyone's going to break in but when using a strong WPA password is as easy as pie these days I don't see the logic behind sticking with WEP.

My home network stays on 24/7 and uses a 20-bit WPA2 passphrase.

 

[serpentracer]

I just don't want anyone getting free internet. lol

soon, I think I'll go ahead and change it to wpa. thanks for the heads up. netgear makes it appear it's pretty secure.

like J03 said, netgear's settings wont let you to access it's settings unless you are hard wired to the router. and forget about it wirelessly, you have to be allowed to access it wirelessly. so someone sitting outside with my passphrase still can't get on. I've tried it. nor can they access the settings.
of course this all has to be turned on and is off by default.

I did all of this because I noticed one night my modem internet light blinking like it does when I download stuff.
people were getting on my internet for free.

 

[Comp_Pro]

Anyone could EASILY crack your password in less then 5 minutes (It's a wep key, very unsecure). Then they can spoof their mac address to your mac address and start using your internet.

Your setup might sound secure to you but there are some smart people out there

 

[berry120]

Your setup might sound secure to you but there are some smart people out there

Smart people? It's not the smart people you need to worry about, it's any old script kiddie that can use youtube. That's why using WEP is such a no-no these days, it's not because it's theoretically possible to crack it, it's because practically anyone who feels like it can with 2 minutes research.

 

[Comp_Pro]

Smart people? It's not the smart people you need to worry about, it's any old script kiddie that can use youtube. That's why using WEP is such a no-no these days, it's not because it's theoretically possible to crack it, it's because practically anyone who feels like it can with 2 minutes research.

True, I guess you could call me a script kiddie ... when I used ubuntu a while back I used aircrack-ng to crack my friends wep password (With his permission of course, he was watching me the whole time) I said "I bet you I can crack your wifi in 5 minutes or less". He said it was impossible, but shortly after I was the one who won $5.

I used it for demonstration purposes and to gain knowledge about wifi security, I've never used it on an access point without having the permission from the owner of it.

 

[serpentracer]

how come all these websites I see keep saying it's only a 24bit encription? my router says it's 128bit.

 

[Comp_Pro]

Doesn't matter how much bits your wep password is. A wep password is a wep password and can be cracked easily with little knowledge

 

[Legodude522]

Back to the original question, perhaps you should map your neighborhood. Or perhaps someone has already done so for you.

https://wigle.net/

I'm an active "wigler"

 

[BK_123]

We turn ours off sometimes and is secure with a wep. I think everyone should use secure their network because if they get hold of personally and private documents and other things who knows what they can do with that information...

 

[berry120]

Doesn't matter how much bits your wep password is. A wep password is a wep password and can be cracked easily with little knowledge

This.

Guys, I just don't understand why anyone uses WEP these days. I've yet to encounter a modern router that doesn't support WPA, it's a 2 second change and with a strong key it's exponentially more secure than WEP. The latter has served its purpose, it was proved insecure years (a decade?) ago and anyone who wants access to your network can get it using a) Google or b) Youtube. It's not just theoretically insecure becuase of an obscure paper that's yet to be implemented - it's insecure on a fundamental and practical level.

Yes, if you're lucky you'll never have a problem with someone breaking into your WEP network and all will be well. But when it's so easy to switch to something much more secure, why on earth not?!