Wireless Hypothetical Security Question

[DietCokeMan]

If one installs a wireless access point and fails to secure it with encryption, can hackers or drive-bys actually enter the home network within the private side? Or can they just steal service and monitor traffic?

What is the threat to the home?

Thanks,

Ken

 

[petrosky]

Also,

If the WPA passphrase is long and strong enough...it can take billions of years to crack using brute strength...

I don't think the protocol will exist by then!

Peter.

Remember- It's nice to be important,
but it's important to be nice

 

[tfg13]

hercj, sounds to me like you aren't your average user, and have done a little research. I wish more home users took that stance, then again, I'd be out of a job.....

 

[KornGeek]

I live in a relatively rural neighborhood (1/2 acre lots) and I still get 3 or 4 "available networks" in my network list. I can't imagine what it would be like in an apartment building.

I live in an apartment complex, and I probably see about 10-20 "available networks", the vast majority of which (80-90%) are secured.

Also, even though I see many of them, very few have any usable level of signal strength. Although there are many wireless networks, the walls, plumbing, electical infrastructure, etc. all provide interference making it difficult to actually use a network other than my own. (Although I found 2 of reasonable signal strength and reliablity that are unsecured that I used while waiting for my connection issues to be resolved.)

 

[Stella740pl]

KornGeek,

I live in an apartment building, too, with more buildings and some private houses nearby, and I see less then 10 (5-8) available networks, with only 2 of reasonable signal strength, and only 1 of them is nearly always consistently on and never secured.