Question for all you hacker-y types out there...

[TimeLord75]

Just a curiosity, really. I'm wondering: How secure is my internet connection? I know the only secure PC is a powered-down one, but still.

I have 2 PCs--one desktop (connected directly) and one laptop (connected wirelessly). My wireless connected is WEP protected, with a 22-character key. How easy would it be for a "war driver" (does anyone still do that?) to access my stuff?

I'm not asking because I want to hack someone else's stuff, nor because I have any reason to think anyone's been messing with mine. I'm just curious as to how secure I've managed to make myself, and I'm not smart enough to figure it out on my own. :/

 

[darth.pixie]

Here's a question...how gullible are you? That's what gets most users in trouble.

WEP is very easily hackable. I know people who could do it in a minute or less depending on traffic. Obsolete encryption algorithm , too easy to get a key. WPA is good though.

 

[Dags90]

I've seen someone I know hack into a wireless network (WEP) in five minutes of mostly waiting for software. Residential network security is mostly an illusion that has a hurdle just below the technical mastery of "script kids". Of course, unless you've got something worth the effort you're just one in thousands with poor security. The chances of you having anything sinister done to you is pretty small.

 

[Berethond]

Also while you're wirelessly on your WEP, someone can use a certain Firefox add-on to hijack your session, steal your cookies, and get all your passwords.

 

[Dogstile]

WEP?

You're not protected. You're behind a wall made out of cardboard and hoping the blokes with chainsaws don't notice it.

Pretty much anyone with a basic level of hack-fu can get in. Luckily, your wall is just one segment in a maze of walls, you'll be fine.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

WEP?

You're not protected. You're behind a wall made out of cardboard and hoping the blokes with chainsaws don't notice it.

Pretty much anyone with a basic level of hack-fu can get in. Luckily, your wall is just one segment in a maze of walls, you'll be fine.

I use WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK apparently. Is this secure? How secure is this as opposed to wep?

 

[Dogstile]

WEP?

You're not protected. You're behind a wall made out of cardboard and hoping the blokes with chainsaws don't notice it.

Pretty much anyone with a basic level of hack-fu can get in. Luckily, your wall is just one segment in a maze of walls, you'll be fine.

I use WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK apparently. Is this secure? How secure is this as opposed to wep?

I've heard very good things about WPA in general to be honest, and as for PSK, i've not heard of it yet.

(I am just a student after all, my experience is a year and a half of screwing with people)

Edit: A quick google and it turns out I actually have come across PSK before. What is stumping me is that you have both WPA and WPA2 there. That doesn't seem quite right. WPA2 is awesome though, so you're fine.

 

[devotedsniper]

As said WEP is a piece of piss to break into, WPA2 is the standard for a home router at the moment.

As for getting into the hard lined desktop, thats abit trickier (would need to know your ip address assigned to you by your isp), but it's not the hardest thing in the world to do since you only have to get past the routers firewall, once into the router it's pretty much just a fact of using the file share protocols that windows uses (literally just navigating with windows explorer, provided your sharing files over the network, but even if your not it's still not that hard to get into), unless you have it turned off and/or your machine is password protected, but even then it wouldn't take too long for a skilled hacker to get in (a few days at most if the ip address is known and if you are just using standard sort security on the machines), and once there in they would more than likely create a backdoor on the system so they can just walk right in whenever they wish to after that. Of course you wouldn't even need to do the first few steps if you broke in through the wifi.

on a brighter note though, I wouldn't worry to much though the worst thing that will more than likely happen to you if you get your wifi broken into is them leeching off you, best thing to do is change your encryption protocol to WPA2 (WPA is still better than WEP but WPA2 is better) and you should be fine.

*EDIT* to the above poster, PSK is using a passsword with WPA and WPA2 (hence WPA2-PSK) instead of a hex number (usually 32 long i believe).

 

[CrystalShadow]

WEP?

You're not protected. You're behind a wall made out of cardboard and hoping the blokes with chainsaws don't notice it.

Pretty much anyone with a basic level of hack-fu can get in. Luckily, your wall is just one segment in a maze of walls, you'll be fine.

I use WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK apparently. Is this secure? How secure is this as opposed to wep?

I've heard very good things about WPA in general to be honest, and as for PSK, i've not heard of it yet.

(I am just a student after all, my experience is a year and a half of screwing with people)

PSK is just shorthand for 'passkey'

It means the WPA key is a password of some sequence of characters chosen by whoever configured it, as opposed to a long string of 64 hexidecimal numbers which is the other main option.

It tells you something about what kind of security key is being used, but it's otherwise not any kind of encryption system in it's own right.

 

[Dogstile]

WEP?

You're not protected. You're behind a wall made out of cardboard and hoping the blokes with chainsaws don't notice it.

Pretty much anyone with a basic level of hack-fu can get in. Luckily, your wall is just one segment in a maze of walls, you'll be fine.

I use WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK apparently. Is this secure? How secure is this as opposed to wep?

I've heard very good things about WPA in general to be honest, and as for PSK, i've not heard of it yet.

(I am just a student after all, my experience is a year and a half of screwing with people)

PSK is just shorthand for 'passkey'

It means the WPA key is a password of some sequence of characters chosen by whoever configured it, as opposed to a long string of 64 hexidecimal numbers which is the other main option.

It tells you something about what kind of security key is being used, but it's otherwise not any kind of encryption system in it's own right.

Cheers It actually turns out I knew what it was, I'm just horrifically crap at remembering the shortened names for things.

Cheers anyway.

 

[devotedsniper]

heres abit of a easy read for those interested in WEP, WPA and WPA2, it describes the differences

http://compudent.blogspot.com/2006/09/wireless-wep-vs-wpa-vs-wpa2.html

 

[Ack-ack]

on the subject could you say how secure my connection is?

I'm connected to the netbox with wire, it has NAT enabled, all ports are blocked no outside access to the netbox, my computer has anti-vir, firewall, i have disabled filesharing, remote desktop/help service/what ever it was, shut down netBIOS and all online services that i could before my PC crashed or couldn't connect to internet.

Also, what can i do to make myself more safe?