Stealing your neighbors WiFi

[Balanc3]

Forty bucks for high-speed Internet access? Not a bad deal. But how does free sound?

To a growing number of Internet piggy-backers, it's the sweet sound of pirating their neighbor's wireless network.

Most new computers are equipped for wireless Internet access, and more and more people opting for Wi-Fi in their homes. But as the networks become stronger and more prevalent, more of those signals are available outside the home of the subscriber, spilling over into neighbor's apartments, hallways and the street.

Add to this the growing number of cafes and other public "hot spots" that offer Wi-Fi (for wireless fidelity) connections and the ability to buy more powerful antennas that can pick up signals several hundred feet away. The coverage in some places can be pretty near flawless.

One study by Jupiter Research said 14 percent of wireless network owners have accessed their neighbor's connection. Yet evidence suggests that more and more people are logging on for free.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/08/tech...ex.htm?cnn=yes

This is why it is important to SECURE YOUR WIRELESS ACCESS.

Use the links below for steps you can take to make sure you're wireless access is not being pinched from:

Securing your Wireless Network
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...ess_secure.htm

Wireless LAN security guide
http://www.lanarchitect.net/Articles...ecurityRating/

Ten Steps to a Secure Wireless Network
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,844020,00.asp

How to do it: Securing your wireless LAN
http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/...lesshowto.html

[bart_smastard]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

any links on stealing our neighbours WiFi though ? 2 meg connection sucks i need more speed

[skahound]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

A guy in Florida was recently convicted of a felony for stealing someone else's WiFi connection. A man in his house noticed a pickup truck parked out front with a guy sitting in it tapping away at his laptop, got the plate number and turned him in.

[cowardly dj]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

A guy in Florida was recently convicted of a felony for stealing someone else's WiFi connection. A man in his house noticed a pickup truck parked out front with a guy sitting in it tapping away at his laptop, got the plate number and turned him in.

hmmmmmmm a felony conviction for stealing internet access from the air waves. IMO there is more to this than just stealing the access. I do not know how much wireless internet costs but I am pretty sure it does not add up to enough money to be qualified as a felony. Am i missing something here?

[demonAfro]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

I laugh when the neighbours try using our massive 150k connection. Foolish people

[daveman]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

i've been wondering a bit about this lately. don't have a laptop with wifi, but the PSP has wifi and now has an internet browser. when i run a search for signals from my couch i can pick up sometime up to twenty different signals but all seem to be locked up by a password. are there ways around that?

but if there are ways around it does the ip numbers of the laptop or psp or whatever show up on the computer that the account belongs to. is this something that is easy to track down.

this is one of the few computer thing i know very little about.

[skahound]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

Am i missing something here?

"Police say Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer."

If Smith is convicted, it will be a "a third-degree felony" based on the charge of "unauthorized access to a computer network."

A felony charge doesn't always have to be for monetary reasons.

[picklemonkey]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

i've been wondering a bit about this lately. don't have a laptop with wifi, but the PSP has wifi and now has an internet browser. when i run a search for signals from my couch i can pick up sometime up to twenty different signals but all seem to be locked up by a password. are there ways around that?

but if there are ways around it does the ip numbers of the laptop or psp or whatever show up on the computer that the account belongs to. is this something that is easy to track down.

this is one of the few computer thing i know very little about.

your MAC address will show up next to the IP address that was leased. most wireless routers lease IP addresses ~7 days by default, so even if you haven't used their internet for 7 days it'll still be assigned to you. Regardless, it'll be in their logs for months


I don't have WEP on my wireless, but I do have MAC filters. if someone wants to piggyback on my signal, that'll give 'em a run for their money before they give up. they'll have a solid wireless connection, but no internet access at all

[cowardly dj]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

a felony conviction for using the internet access without authorizatoin yet sex offenders get probation......... hmmmmmmmmmm

[palmer]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

In my old apt building I could piggyback probably 30 different people.

[Kobe]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

are there ways around that?

Yeah, get your own service you freeloader!

This article missed what I consider to be the real issue, what are the wireless theives doing with your IP address? Anyone who doesn't secure their wireless router is a moron, IMO. The kid next door is sharing copywrited music with YOUR IP address. The dirty old man upstairs is looking at kiddie porn with YOUR IP address. The pimple faced teenager down the hall thinks he's a hacker, but he's not good enough to avoid being caught, with YOUR IP address.

You wake up the next day to a law suit from the RIAA, a Megan law, and the FBI knocking on your door. "It wasn't me, I didn't do it!!"

Yeah, but we have your name on it...

[nicomax]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

I'm with Kobe. The problem should be of the owner of the connection. It's their responsability to secure their WiFi....

[demonAfro]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

I don't have WEP on my wireless, but I do have MAC filters. if someone wants to piggyback on my signal, that'll give 'em a run for their money before they give up. they'll have a solid wireless connection, but no internet access at all

From what I have heard, it is pretty easy to clone a MAC address, just changing a property or registry setting or something. I guess wireless is just massively insecure

[asdf_admin]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

i do not care. interweb is free.

[daveman]

Re: Stealing your neighbors WiFi

Yeah, get your own service you freeloader!

- i didn't want to sound like freeloader. like i said the whole wifi thing is new to me because i don't have anything with it currently. well other than the psp, like i mentioned. i just wanted a way to get the internet working on it regaurdless of where i was. it seems to always find a signal, just can't connect to anything.