Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Connecting to an unsecured wireless network

cliche · 05-20-2005, 07:02 AM

I run a small network for a group of friends living in bedsit accommodation. Due to the high faff potential, and potential performance hit, I haven't enabled WEP or WPA and rely on MAC filtering to keep the network secure. In fact, I occasionally allow the DHCP server to give out a few ips to unrecognised computers who are then given a very slow access to the net (going through the dhcp server using iptables etc).

What is the real risk of someone being able to use the network without my permission? I'm thinking it would probably be a matter of sitting with a sniffer for a few minutes to 'steal' a recognised MAC address. Would it be that easy?

05-20-2005, 07:02 AM	#32 (permalink)
cliche Rookie Location: Oxford, UK	I run a small network for a group of friends living in bedsit accommodation. Due to the high faff potential, and potential performance hit, I haven't enabled WEP or WPA and rely on MAC filtering to keep the network secure. In fact, I occasionally allow the DHCP server to give out a few ips to unrecognised computers who are then given a very slow access to the net (going through the dhcp server using iptables etc). What is the real risk of someone being able to use the network without my permission? I'm thinking it would probably be a matter of sitting with a sniffer for a few minutes to 'steal' a recognised MAC address. Would it be that easy? __________________ I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992)