Technically Foreign» Internet

Securing your wireless network – Tips and recommendations

Terry — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:33:59 +0000

Looking around my wireless drop down menu I see many people have wireless routers. Of course the easist way to connect to the Internet today is a wireless router like the Linksys, apple airport, netgear or other brands. No matter which brand you choose (that would be a another post) one must understand the basics of security.

Realize that all routers can be broken into if someone really really wanted too. This is like someone can break into your home if they really really wanted to even if you had the latest alarm system. However we still lock our doors and put an alarm on, we take precautions and make it hard as possible for people to break into our house without getting caught. Wireless networking should be taken in the same respect. Also most people do not need to go for the extra security features. I will list them at the end of the article, but you will be safe enough with the basic precautions.

The first thing you need to do with wireless networking is put a password on your wireless network. This is making it secure. Since your computer saves the password most people create the password then forget it.

Tip #1 – Use your phone number. Ten digit phone numbers including the area code make the perfect password for a wireless network. That is only if the next steps are taken. If you use your phone number and no one in the area can link your Network Name with you, then it is easy to remember and secure.

Tip # 2 – Do not use anything personal or the name of your router. The two most secure things you can do is in naming your router. Do not keep the defualt name. You are telling people how to break into your router. If you just do a google search with your router name and ‘hack’, you will see the tools needed to break into your router. Also if you use your name, first or last, address or anything that your neighbors can realizie its your router then a bad neigbor can try to break into your router. Use names that don’t draw attention or look like they aren’t working. AN example is ‘no-connection’ or ‘none’ or ‘unavailable’. Most people scanning the network will stay away from these and will not be able to connect the network to you.

Doing the above two will also allow you to give this out easily to friends and guest who come over. It is also a conversation piece on why you choose that name. Giving your number and not a personal password allows you to securely give that info to people you wish to use your network.

Tip # 3 – Wireless Router Admin password. You should change this admin password. Some adapters force you to change it. You should keep this password in a safe place. This password you should never give out to anyone.

Just with the above tips your wireless router is more secure. If someone else is on your wirless router they aren’t only getting free internet from you but with many free tools out on the internet they can see what you are doing online. They also maybe able to steal information that you are sending through the internet and if you have any shared folders on your network, they might be able to access them.

The above tips should be fine for the average user. I have heard many people take the wireless secuirty to extrems. There are not nessarry for most people.

Turning off SSID Broadcast. This is turning off your routers name on the drop down list on your computer. Equivalent to an unlisted phone number. The problem is its hard to find your router and connect to it from your computer or other devices. It’s not recommended and your wireless should be secure enough with the above tips.
MAC Address Filtering. If you don’t know what a MAC Address is (it has nothing to do with an apple Macintosh) then you shouldn’t be filtering for it. This will limit your computers and devices and is extremely secure but adding a new computer to your network is very time consuming and friends will not be able to connect at all.
WPA and WEP Differences. For the average user the difference doesn’t matter. Many IT people will disagree with me on this one. As long as your network is locked up 99% of possible break-ins are avoided. Use the one that will work with your password. Some of the encryption need very long passwords. However WPA is better and should be used if possible. Some devices may have an issue. Using a 10 digit WPA password like your phone number will still take a very long time for someone to crack. (we are talking years here!)
Realize that most people will not bother trying to hack or enter your secure network if it is secure and they don’t know who it belongs too. Why waste the time (it still takes hours and hours to break into a wireless network) when you can still find someone who keeps the network completely open.

ISP Screws up Internet Connection and Arrests Customer

Terry — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:31:04 +0000

Next time your Internet Service Provider (ISP) stops by to fix your computer connection be very careful what you say to him. Apparently a new policy from ISP’s is: if we can’t fix the problem we will have you arrested. A Nova Scotian playwright was arrested for threatening an ISP Technician, telling him that she would keep him hostage until her Internet was up and working. If the technician felt like a hostage then aren’t we hostages to the Internet Service Provider? When we are cut off from the Internet that is the equivalent of being placed in a cold white cell and feed bread and water. Now this story is from our wacky northern friends, referred by some as Maple Lovers or for the rest of the world just Canadians. But I’m sure the Internet Service Provider’s will love to use this Police State policy to arrest anyone who complains about there Service. Next time your talking to the Customer Care Representative over your Cable, Internet or Phone issues just remember to be nice because if they don’t like your attitude they can send you to Jail!

VIA: CTV.CA

Pop the Bubble Virtually

Terry — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:03:39 +0000

Okay so a while back I posted about the key chain bubble wrap simulator… But now I’ve found a fun way to get your daily frustration out during work for FREE. Yes free as in beer. (that joke never gets old.) Have fun at this Flash game that will ultimately simulate the bubble wrap popping we all enjoy.

Pandora opens up the Internet boom box!

Terry — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:09:33 +0000

Internet radios have been around almost as long as Al Gore invented it. But the problem with channel surfing internet radios is most of them are streaming and you can’t skip a song, plus the channels are created by a concrete block that the Industry has labeled. Now comes along the The Music Genome Project which has presented a different way to find the new music and enjoy Internet Radio again.

www.pandora.com - brings a simple way to find this new music and that is by listing the artists and songs you already like. This group of Musicians has been working on this project since 2000 analysising each song to bring you similar music that you like. Now I’ve been using the site for a short time, but I already am an addict. You create a radio station and place the artists and songs you like, then as new songs come up you either give the song a thumbs up or thumbs down and the site will chose new music based on what you like. They are building a community of custom radio stations based on different artists. I highly recommend anyone to give Pandora a try and open the Internet boom box.

Postal rates gone Postal

Terry — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:42:33 +0000

With more people mailing the USPS has been increasing the rates like crazy over the years. Now it isn’t about weight but size too. Cheaper to send a post card then a letter. Which brings me to the technology part of this interesting Postal topic — Email Postal Charges. We’ll call it EPC to keep with the growing trend of making up more ways to confuse people. Now if we implemented EPC and the USPS was in charge of it then we would need a USPS PM to that would be labeled as PMEPC who would probably need to increase the EPC every two days or so to keep up with the fast paced world of the Internet. Now that we have realized the Information Super Highway needs a couple of toll booths so it can be regulated, sensored and sealed up with read tape all of us Internet users can rest assure that we will be clicking in a safer place as our bank accounts get emptied out from the IT (Identity Thefters).

So before anyone complains about the snail mail interest rate increasing, sit back and pray that congress doesn’t put an email tax. Now some may believe this if fictional but just do a google search for Email Tax or Internet Tax…. I think its time to get back to tying little notes on pigeons.

StumbleUpon to find what intrests you

Terry — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:20:08 +0000

We live in a complicated webbed world. The internet has brought us a ton of information and yet navigating through the sticky web is more like the poor fly who is about to be Charlotte’sÂ dinner. But wait! Now you have a true way to navigate the web without know what you really want to look at. Hmmm is that wrong. We do search for things using a search engine and it works if what your searching for is in the top two or three pages. However, we all have our own interests and that is where the stumbleupon.com site fits in.

Stumbleupon works like this. You download the Browser plugin (IE & Firefox compatible), create a login and then you just stumble. Stumbling is first telling the site what you like by choosing categories and pressing a button in your browser called Stumble! This button will take you to random pages that other Stumblers have added. The best part is that you just click a thumbs up or a thumbs down on any webpage. These “I like it” or “I don’t” thumbs are organized in your stumbleupon Favorites. Then you can add your review and comments. Since the site uses tags, its easy to go back to cool pages that you’ve stumbled upon.

Now like all web 2.0 sites there is a great community involved. Adding someone as a friend will place the pages they’ve liked into your stumbling activity. The community grows by more people adding pages. If you click on the ‘Thumbs Up’ icon and no one else has then you’ve discovered that page and get to give it a review.

Stumbleupon my page http://yfat32.stumbleupon.com/ to see how it looks. If you decide to enter into the wonderful world of stumbling, realize it’s like pulling down the arm of a slot machine. Sometimes you get crap, but when you hit that unique and interesting site that you’d never know about then you will realize the fun and usefulness of this tool. Send me a message on stumbleupon if you decide to stumble through the sticky web and lets build on this great community tool.

How to find a book in a library anywhere in the world?

Terry — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:54:40 +0000

So you found the book you like on amazon but do you really need to buy it? Don’t forget about what you learned in school about Libraries. Now your local public library may not have what your looking for but it’s the Librarians job to help you find it. However there is a great site that taps into most of todays libraries across the country and even the world. That is www.Worldcat.org .

At worldcat.org you search for the book, music, video or even article your looking for then after selecting the item enter your location. You will be amazed of how easy it is to find the material your looking for. In the end if you have to buy it from Amazon, they’ve even got the link ready for you!

SITES: http://www.worldcat.org

Google Sued because parents don’t know web filtering

Terry — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:26:56 +0000

Most people don’t bother learning how to secure their Internet or even search for a place that will help them (like netsmartz.org). We all want to protect our kids and ourselves from the bad parts of the Internet. However, most people will just sue a company. And if you work for the government and need a way to get more votes, then maybe stating “Google Inc. generates “billions of dollars from the pornography trade and illicit profiteers.”" makes a lot of sense. ( News article from Newsday ) People have to take a little responsibility for themselves and their children. The Internet Law is open and it is the user’s responsibility to filter and make sure they are protected.

Now an easy way to filter adult content in Google is to create a Google user account and keep logged into Google personalized: http://www.google.com/ig.
Then inside click on preferences: http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en
There is a “SafeSearch Filtering” feature. Turn this on and save the preferences.
Besides Google all top search engines have a safe search Feature, but since Google was singled out…

Now there are many ways to filter a computer and doing this just for Google isn’t the best way since there are other search engines out there. Yahoo, MSN are others who have the same issue. Parents and anyone who has kids around have to learn to set up their computer to have better filters since children can also get into other online places like MySpace or blogs. Software filtering is an important step for parents. With a simple google search with the keywords: parent information on web filtering a parent can find many ways to restrict their computer.

I do not think itâ€™s Google’s or any other search engines responsibility for filtering the Internet for pornography. Instead, the US government could have backed the push for a .xxx domain which would have made it easier for filtering and enforcing control over such content. Instead it is the parent’s responsibility to configure their computer. However, what I have found that all parents should look at is the websites: netsmartz.org, www.nap.edu/netsafekids/ and getnetwise.org. These are a must for all parents to look at. But, if a parent wants to go further, they can use monitoring software like Web Watcher or filter program like NetNanny.

The parent resources below go into more detail about what parents or people who have kids on their computer should do. We aren’t going to leave a four-year-old alone in a house without someone looking after them. Why then would we let children use a computer without proper safe-guards in place ?

Parent Resources:

netsmartz.org
Net safeFiltering And Monitory Tools
getnetwise.org – Online resources for protecting yourself, your kids and your computer.
staysafeonline.info/ – National Cyber Security Allaiance

Software Solutions:

The Bad words of Computer Security Part 3 – Software Updates

Terry — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 17:29:23 +0000

There is a lot of words for Software updates including, Vulnerabilities, patches, versions and bugs. Software and your Operating system need to have the latest version, otherwise you risk your computer to cyber attacks. For example if your using an outdated version of Firefox (a web browser) and enter a site that attacks a certain bug which has been known and fixed in newer versions then even if you have an Anti-virus program you can get attacked. The simple rules:

Make sure your Operating system is always up to date. Schedule your machine to automatically update your software.
- For windows make sure automatic update is on, follow Microsoft's instructions here: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/msupdate_keep_current.mspx
- For Mac make sure you install the updates when prompted, follow Apples instructions here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106704
- Linux - since every Linux distribution is different you will have to read the help page, but most distributions have a simple software update button that not only updates the Operating System but updates all software that is installed which is better then both Apple and Microsoft's updates.
Next make sure that all your applications are up to date. This use to be a very hard one but has gotten much easier. Before you would have to compare each verison of your software or goto each software and see if they have an upgrade button and click it once in a while. Today a lot of software like Firefox and Thunderbird will automatically install new updates and inform you when these have been done. Also There is a software inspector that inspects your computer for all out dated (vulnerable) software. This is the secunia inspector. Click the button below to inspect your computer and make sure all your software is up to date. This should be run every month.
Run the Secunia Software inspector to make sure your computer is safe.

If you follow the first part of the serious about passwords, the second part about Viruses and this part about updating your software there will be a 99% chance of your computer getting taken over, infected and your identity stolen over the Internet. These are simple rules and are equivalent to changing the oil in your car.

The Bad words of Computer Security Part 2 – Viruses

Terry — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 22:57:17 +0000

In the first Part of the “Bad” words of Computer Security I talked about Passwords. Now that you have a safe and secure password what about Viruses??? Since a computer was built by a human you will notice we take a lot of the same words when we talk about ourselves. If you get a virus, that’s not a good thing. The same goes for your computer. Now we protect ourselves from viruses, we don’t eat from the garbage, wear the right clothing when its cold and in general stay away from the things that will harm us. That is the same with computer viruses, be careful what you feed your computer. In the good old days that meant putting a disk in a drive, today that means going to a website, downloading a program or opening an email. Security experts use to say don’t open anything from strangers, but even that has changed.

Rules for protecting your computer from getting a virus:

Install an anti-virus program. Then make sure you have the up to date virus definitions each month. PLEASE READ, yes that four letter word, READ, the information on the anti-virus companies website. Most anti-virus software comes with a subscription, when that subscription runs out then you are no longer protected from the latest viruses since you will not be able to install the latest definitions. I list Anti-virus programs at the end of the article.
UPDATE, I know i mentioned it above but make sure that you are getting the updated definitions each day or at least each week. (Companies don’t always reales them each day.)
Make sure you have a firewall on. Most Operating Systems (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) have built-in firewalls.
Run an anti-virus scan at-least monthly with of course the newest definitions. You can schedule the scan. I run mine weekly.
That Is it…. now for those resources

Resources:

Certs home security section – CERTS is a government funded research and development institute. They are the security experts.
http://security.getnetwise.org/ – get net wise is a great website that has information and tools about protecting yourself on the web.
Microsoft list of Anti-Virus clients – This is a very good and always updated list of anti-virus clients. I personally like Symantec.