Wireless routers

[sc_1004]

I'm thinking of buying a wireless router to use as a firewall, but I'm concerned about security. If I will be able to set up a LAN and connect to the internet from anywhere in my apt, what is to stop the signal from passing thru the walls between my neighbors and me? Wouldn't I be broadcasting my signals for others to potentially intercept?

(I imagine the same concern exists for public WiFi and cell phone use. Theoretically, those signals can be intercepted also. What, if any, protections are there for WiFi's?)

 

[Geoff]

There really is nothing you can do to prevent the signal from leaving your apartment, unless you put the wireless router in the middle of your apartment, and change the Tx power so low that you barely receive coverage at the walls of your apartment, but that's not realistic and would provide very slow speeds.

Anyways, what I would recommend is disabling your SSID, so your network is hidden and won't show up on the majority of built-in networking programs. I would then run WPA2 encryption so no one could easily gain access to your wireless network without the proper password.

 

[MrBucket]

It is kinda hard to break WEP/WPA network passwords but it can be done, but 99% of the time you should be safe with just putting up a password. You can also set up MAC Addresses to only allow certain computers/devices to connect to your router, even if somehow somebody did break the password. But i wouldn't be to worried about someone breaking through and screwing up your network.

 

[sc_1004]

Thanks. The password encryption should work in most cases. But I'm still curious: if I set up my router in such a way that I get untenuated access to the internet from anywhere in my apt, how many apts over - or how far - will this signal carry?

Another question, this one about hardware firewalls. Why are they considered more secure than software firewalls? I ask because the part of the hardware firewall that actually filters the signal must be software based or enabled, so what is the difference between that and a purely software firewall? They seem the same thing to me.

 

[Geoff]

It is kinda hard to break WEP/WPA network passwords but it can be done, but 99% of the time you should be safe with just putting up a password. You can also set up MAC Addresses to only allow certain computers/devices to connect to your router, even if somehow somebody did break the password. But i wouldn't be to worried about someone breaking through and screwing up your network.

WEP is very easy to crack, there are programs out there that can break the code in as little as 5 minutes As for MAC address filtering, it's an additional security measure but all someone has to do is sniff out packets and then install a utility which spoofs the MAC address, and then they would be on. I did this in my wireless security class in about 10 minutes for the first time.

Thanks. The password encryption should work in most cases. But I'm still curious: if I set up my router in such a way that I get untenuated access to the internet from anywhere in my apt, how many apts over - or how far - will this signal carry?

Another question, this one about hardware firewalls. Why are they considered more secure than software firewalls? I ask because the part of the hardware firewall that actually filters the signal must be software based or enabled, so what is the difference between that and a purely software firewall? They seem the same thing to me.

Depends how large the apartment is, what material is used between the apartments (drywall vs concrete).
The difference is that a software firewall runs on top of an OS, which has loads of security flaws. So an attacker could fairly easily cause your software-based firewall program, or server completely to be shutdown or disabled. A hardware firewall is much more locked down since it is designed solely around being a firewall, it doesn't have to worry about supporting multiple applications which could cause security holes.

 

[shempf]

The signal will travel. That's part of having it. Your in an apartment so no point in pondering it anymore. MAC filtering is a waste and slows the connection a bit.

If you use a router/firewall, there are no exploits to worry about.
Google a bunch. It'll tell you everything you need to know, in time.