Originally Posted by
rockchick
Perhaps this question isn't appropriate for this forum, but I thought it might be the best place to start...
If you run an unsecured broadband wireless connection, is there any way (other than the drop in speed) that you can tell whether someone else is using your broadband connection?
Cheers
Rockchick
Hi RockChick,
It all depends on which router you use and therefore which features it has.
There are two easy ways to tell that most routers will have:
- Check the DHCP addresses that the router has issued out.
Generally the router will show the IP addresses that have been leased and the Network name of the computer that has requested it. You can then see if that name matches one of your computers. This is very very easily defeated though. - If your router supports MAC address filtering then you could look at which MAC addresses have recently accessed the router (as the router usually stores these to make it easier for you to apply MAC address filtering).
The best way to stop somebody using your connection is simply to secure using WPA, or if your router/cards don't support anything else, WEP.
WEP encryption is very poor, puts an additional load on both the router CPU and your computer CPU and is very easily cracked. WPA encryption is done much faster as the card/router (generally) does the encryption/decryption via a dedicated chip taking the load off of your computer. It is also much more secure due to the way it works.
The best way to secure your wireless network is to employ a combination of no DHCP (ie. used fixed IP's), WPA and MAC address filtering. The most secure wireless network will be switched off ....
Kind regards,
Paul Broadwith
Blue Ivy Ltd, Wick - Certified Microsoft Small Business Specialist
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