What You Don’t Know About Connecting to Your Neighbor’s Network
by systrough.com
February 1, 2008
Introduction
Once someone learns that their neighbor has an open wireless network, he or she usually connects to that network for free Internet access. Many do not even think about their own privacy when connecting to their neighbor’s network. By connecting to your neighbor’s network, you enable your neighbor to see everything that you do on the Internet and even obtain some of your passwords - if they have the knowledge to do so.
How Can They See My Data?
Data is transmitted across the Internet as packets; think of a packet as being a discrete unit of data. Therefore, the data that you transmit is sent as packets across their network. Using a special computer program called a packet sniffer, your neighbor or anybody on his or her network can see the contents of these packets. By analyzing the contents of these packets, your neighbor can determine the sites you visit and your passwords.
What Can I Do to Protect My Privacy?
The following steps are crucial in protecting your privacy:
- Use your own Internet connection.
- Secure your network.
- For important transactions, ensure that your connection is encrypted by SSL.
Preventing Unauthorized Access to Your Network
Securing your wireless network to prevent unauthorized access is relatively simple. To protect your network, you must make the following changes in your router’s setup:
- Enable WPA or WPA2 encryption in your router’s setup. By enabling either WPA or WPA2, you ensure that only computers with the correct passphrase can connect to your network, and that your wireless traffic is encrypted.
- Enable MAC filtering in your router’s setup and include rules that only allow your computers to connect to your network.
Please consult your router’s manual on how to enable WPA, WPA2, or MAC filtering.