Is WiFi safe? i.e against being hacked etc? thanks?

Answer 1

i used to think like you,i used to be paranoid that i was being hacked into,but my mates a network engineer and he showed me how a wireless network is set up and protected
most wi-fi networks are protected by a w.e.p (wireless encryption protocol)this is a 8 (64 bit) or 16(128bit) digit key,which will distinguise your wirelless router from the rest of them in your area
128bit encryption is generally better than 64 as the key is bigger so harder to crack,but as a rule most homee networks are safe as any confidential data is normally stored on servers belonging to your bank,solicitor ect so all a hacker would find is your holiday photos and a downloaded game
i like to keep a eye on my network and there are some excellent programs out there to do this job network magic......http://www.download.com/Network-Magic/3000-2085_4-10555029.html,is a briiliant peice of software that will scan your system and router and produce a plan of your network including p.c,s,printers,routers and any other device including wireless laptops,it also informs you if you have any intruders on your network
the main thing that will stop any hacker attacking your network is a firewall,and windows has a firewall as part of service pack 2 but this only scans incoming traffic,which isnt much good if you are sending out infected files,so a 2 way firewall is needed and the program "zone alarm" is a excellent free peice of software that does a great job at protecting your p.c,it will ask you permission before you do anything that affects your firewall and will remember that setting for future reference so it dosent keep asking you
you can download this program from http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp,and there are pro versions avalible for a reasonable price
on the whole hacking against home networks is on the decline as most hackers prefer to hit corporate servers and hold them to ransom for a ridiculous amount of money
so as long as you have up-to-date security(anti-virus,anti-spyware,firewall) and a pass key enabled wireless router you should be completely safe,so dont worry,and enjoy the internet
good luck

Answer 2

two problems to protect against:

(1) someone sees the stuff you're sending over wifi

(2) someone gets into your computers via the wifi network.

Encryption is how you make sure no-one can see your stuff. WEP encryption can be hacked in about 40 minutes. WPA encryption is much better - can be trusted I am advised.

If the hacker manages to connect to your network, it's as if they have a wire plugged into your wired network. They would need to hack the network key to do that - I'm not sure if that's easy or not. I'd guess it would be like any other key or password based protection: if you choose a really obvious key, you'll get hacked; if you don't, you won't.

Once into the network, your computers are likely to be relatively open, though firewalls and password protection are yet another barrier. Always use a firewall on every machine; never have a "guest" account (password "friend", geez peace!) and make sure all your passwords are long complex (numbers, letters upper and lower, symbols). Always change the administrator password from whatever it was when the computer was in shrinkwrap.

This last type of protection is all you have control over on public networks; the rest is not up to you.

But do all those things, and you'll be OK.

Answer 3

If it's setup properly it can be quite safe, yes. Any wireless router can be set to use WPA or WEP security. This will require any computer connecting to it to have the proper password or passkey. If this is done then the transmissions themselves are encrypted and therefore "relatively" safe. Wifi security isn't the strongest out there and it's been criticized for being hackable, but it's not easy by any means.

Just don't leave your wifi router completely open with no protection and you'll be fine. Although, if someone wants in, they'll find a way so it's never 100%

Answer 4

A "public" WiFi connection isn't danger-free. really WiFi in itself isn't danger-free. The prompt alerts would nicely be intercepted through every person with the right techniques and decrypt them no matter if that's encrypted. ideal wager with a public prompt, do not do some thing on there that you do not want the global to understand.

Answer 5

Wifi is general safe if you using key proteced. You can set it via your modem or wireless router. For more info then read the manual book.

Wifi key can be hack but not all of them. So use the best firmware you can find for your router or modem

Answer 6

You can also use WEP, or Wired Equivalent Privacy. However, the most basic things you can do to prevent a wireless PC being invaded is to install firewall software (to keep unwanted guests out) and not to enable file sharing (so that they can't do anything, even if they do get in).

Answer 7

Its pretty safe as long as you use WPA encryption and use a strong pass-phrase, use a random string of letters, numbers and characters for the pass-phrase,

Don't bother with WEP encryption which is easy to crack, also change the default name and password for your wireless router, and turn off ssid broadcasting.

Answer 8

Yes it is safe, but you MUST ensure you encrypt your network on the WEP settings. This will then only allow computer users that have your netwotk code/Password to access your personal network.

Answer 9

Fairly, as long as you set it to not broadcast iteself, switch on some level of encryption and make sure the admin account is not contactable over wireless. See your instruction manual for instructions.

Answer 10

Only if you take proper precautions - have a look at this page (Paragraph 4):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tv/real_hustle_scams.shtml