Unsecure wireless connection?

Question

Police have arrested and cautioned two more people for "piggybacking" off unsecured wireless connections.
Is your wireless connection secure?
Some peolpe believe "piggybacking" is harmless,
What's your opinion?

Arch, I unknowingly log on to unsecure connections from time to time, like wise its not my fault as its not intentional.

Sociald, good on you,it's very good of you to leave your connection open for friends neighbours.
But beware a hacker with the right software can easily gain access to your system. Ive seen it done on "The Real Hustle"

Answer 1

I think its a dodgy area.

My wireless laptop picks up stray signals and sometimes connects to an unsecure network automatically if mine goes down..... surely it not my fault if someone elses network strays onto my property and isnt secured??

It is a worry. Since hearing the news i block other networks now.

Answer 2

Unsecure means that anyone can access the network. You secure it by enabling encryption on your wireless network. There are two schemes in common use, WEP and WPA. WPA is crack-proof but is not supported by all routers and NICs. WEP is crackable though it takes an expert with some specialized software and advanced skills to crack it. If your router doesn't support WPA, look for a firmware upgrade that enables WPA. When you enable encryption, most routers come pre-configured with several passkeys. Do NOT use those preconfigured keys! They are well known and easy to bypass. Set your own passkey and keep it secret. If you have to resort to WEP encryption, change the passkeys monthly to keep yourself secure. Someone is likely to recommend enabling MAC filtering. Don't waste your time. MAC filtering is easy to bypass, and someone who bypasses it can even lock you out of your own system. Turning off SSID broadcasts is also false security. It's easy to sniff the SSID from wireless traffic if you know what you're doing and get access to the system.

Answer 3

I believe people who leave WAPs unsecured are more evil than most of the people who 'piggyback.' I know several young teenagers who do this because their parents wont pay for decent internet. However, this gives criminals (pedophiles trading data, identity thieves, hackers, spammers, etc) a mostly anonymous way to get to the web and leave a trail back to someone else.

Answer 4

Where have you heard police have arrested people for this?

Im not aware of a law against connecting to an unsecure connection.

And no my wireless connection isnt secure, just about all my neighbors are senior citizens and I figure if one of them has enough knowhow to use my connection then they are welcome to it.

Answer 5

*if someone cannot be bothered to put a simple thing like a password on there wireless connection it serves them right if someone piggybacks there system

Answer 6

Its not a clean cut case of theft since your not depriving them of any thing material thats why its covered under different theft/hacking legislation. the cases in cort recently were people parked up in cars so its pretty hard to provethat what you were doing was not knowingly dishonest. if your in your house and you end up in your neighbours network they have to prove it. To behonest no security makes it safe but it just makes it harder to access

Answer 7

If people are stupid enough to leave their wireless connection unsecured then more fool them. It's not as if wireless products these days arn't idiot proof!

Why shouldn't people use these free wireless points? If you're stupid enough to leave all your money from your wallet on your front wall you can't expect people not to take it.

Answer 8

well since a open wifi is just that open , it's gonna be pretty darn hard to get a conviction . because it is not illegal to have open access or for that matter to use it .

Answer 9

It is called theft pure and simple.