A Message to Annoying Neighbor via Network Connections

[Mike]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/message-to-annoying-neighbor-via-network-connections/

(I'll have to see if I can get a screen shot of the connections I find when I use my notebook's wifi. NSFW.)

[Judy G. Russell]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/message-to-annoying-neighbor-via-network-connections/(I'll have to see if I can get a screen shot of the connections I find when I use my notebook's wifi. NSFW.)LOL! And all I every get is Linksys...

[ndebord]

LOL! And all I every get is Linksys...

Judy,

Funny... there's linksys and then there's LINKSYS and in my case, LINKSYS is the high school across the street and their super fast wifi that I log on to all the time (beats my other 3g connection on my cell phone's tethering wifi which comes to somewhere around 768kbps).

[Judy G. Russell]

Funny... there's linksys and then there's LINKSYS and in my case, LINKSYS is the high school across the street and their super fast wifi that I log on to all the time (beats my other 3g connection on my cell phone's tethering wifi which comes to somewhere around 768kbps).Actually, I just checked my laptop and somebody new must have set up a router. There's one that's named DONKEYBRAINS.

[Mike]

There's one that's named DONKEYBRAINS.
When we first moved into the complex, there was a woman who had been coddled too much as a child. Brent got active in cleaning out the fountain and the pond, and unfortunately Coddled Woman soon started treating him as the person to fish her child's toys out of the fountain and pond when said child threw them there for fun. More than once, she, uh, alerted him to the items she expected him to retrieve.

When I had to replace our router, I set the SSID to "No Pond Boy."

However, someone who is close enough to have a signal strong enough that we can receive it, but doesn't want us to try to use that signal, set his/her/their SSID to "Cunt Connect To Us."

As mentioned, next time I'm on the notebook, I'll try to get a picture.

[Jeff]

However, someone who is close enough to have a signal strong enough that we can receive it, but doesn't want us to try to use that signal, set his/her/their SSID to "Cunt Connect To Us."

That's cute, but it doesn't WEP? I can see two or three SSID's, too far away to use, but they all WEP anyway.

[Judy G. Russell]

someone who is close enough to have a signal strong enough that we can receive it, but doesn't want us to try to use that signal, set his/her/their SSID to "Cunt Connect To Us."LOL!! Good stuff here...

[Mike]

That's cute, but it doesn't WEP?
According to Windows' wireless panel, it is a secured device, but I haven't bothered to try to see what sort of protection it has.

[Dan in Saint Louis]

According to Windows' wireless panel
There is a cute free app named inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider) that is pretty good at revealing just how much WiFi radio activity floats around your neighborhood.

[Jeff]

There is a cute free app named inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider) that is pretty good at revealing just how much WiFi radio activity floats around your neighborhood.

That's a good one. Thanks. It just confirmed my suspicion that there is one other Comcast router around here. The other two are "2WIREnnnn" which means the phone company's DSL. They have no SSID imagination, or maybe it cannot be configured.

- Jeff

[Dan in Saint Louis]

The other two are "2WIREnnnn" which means the phone company's DSL. They have no SSID imagination, or maybe it cannot be configured.
The 2WIRE router/modems can be totally configured, but many of us don't bother since the default SSID is so anonymous. In fact, I set up another WiFi router at the back of the house as a fake 2WIRE SSID just to keep the neighbors confused.

If I carry my laptop around to all four corners of our house, I can see about 30 WiFi radios. No names as humorous as you have reported, however! Many of them use the street number of the owner. No thanks!

[Mike]

inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider)
Grabbed it. ...thanks!

[Mike]

They have no SSID imagination, or maybe it cannot be configured.
No one has explained to them that plugging the router in and never changing any of the default settings is one of the biggest security risks for home networking.

[Mike]

The 2WIRE router/modems can be totally configured, but many of us don't bother since the default SSID is so anonymous.
Anonymous, sure, but it also makes it much easier for the crackers, who simply go to the 2WIRE script, instead of having to spend the time to figure it out.

In fact, I set up another WiFi router at the back of the house as a fake 2WIRE SSID just to keep the neighbors confused.
That helps, by diverting attention from the real router.

We used to do something similar when I lived in oHIo, for the tornadoes. We built decoy trailer parks outside of town.

[earler]

Issider found 46 wifi signals, 15 of them have no security. This is the heart of paris, by the way.

[Dan in Saint Louis]

much easier for the crackers, who simply go to the 2WIRE script
I don't know of anybody in our neighborhood who is even running Linux, let alone trying to crack routers.

Maybe I should re-name both of them "linksys"<G>!

[Dan in Saint Louis]

Issider found 46 wifi signals, 15 of them have no security. This is the heart of paris, by the way.
I'm not surprised. A couple of blocks from me there is a high-rise apartment. My little handheld WiFi finder (http://www.amazon.com/AG225H-802-11a-Finder-802-11g-Adapter/dp/B000BJUP00) counted a dozen or so from that one building.

[Mike]

I don't know of anybody in our neighborhood who is even running Linux, let alone trying to crack routers.
Well, often people don't know until it's too late!

There have been tales in my region of people hijacking routers so they can send spam, download child pr0n, etc. A really determined cracker can evade all my security and still get in, but if someone nearby scans and finds several routers that identify themselves, the crackers typically will go after them and leave mine alone.

[Judy G. Russell]

A really determined cracker can evade all my security and still get in, but if someone nearby scans and finds several routers that identify themselves, the crackers typically will go after them and leave mine alone.Exactly -- do what you need to in order not to make it easy, and that is generally going to be enough.

[Jeff]

The 2WIRE router/modems can be totally configured, but many of us don't bother since the default SSID is so anonymous. In fact, I set up another WiFi router at the back of the house as a fake 2WIRE SSID just to keep the neighbors confused.

The pgm reports router vendors and along with a couple of 2Wire Inc.'s it reports mine as Netgear Inc. and another as NETGEAR Inc. That's a difference, or is "vendor" configurable with caps lock? I can't find a way to change the vendor name at all.

- Jeff

[Dan in Saint Louis]

I can't find a way to change the vendor name at all.
I doubt if you can do much about the vendor name, in which case changing the SSID to throw out a red herring would accomplish little.

I have a router upstairs with the vendor's BIOS replaced with a generic Linux BIOS. I should drag that out, dust it off, and see what it reports........