Maximizing wireless security

Maximizing wireless security
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Subject Author Date
Maximizing wireless security Dan 01-26-2008
Posted by Dan on January 27, 2008, 12:12 am
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> Adair Winter wrote:
>>
>>> - SSID broadcast is OFF
>>
>> Might not be applicable if you don't have neighbors or many near by
>> wireless networks however I would turn it back on so that it's
>> possible for others to see your network and not plop down on top of
>> making it unuseable anyway.
>>
>> Adair

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I'm afraid you guys lost me with the
Radius server & VPN bits, I'll have to look those up ;-) If anyone knows of
an especially good sites on this, please pass them along. The laptop in
question does logon to the wireless automatically, without SSID broadcast.
As far as MAC filtering & visiting PC's are concerned, they're few & far
between, it's pretty easy to shut the access control off if/when this might
arise. I was surprised to see the new laptop (a Lenovo) had a sticker on
the bottom with the MAC address, I had gotten it from the router setup when
the PC was wired. On the file sharing part, I do have server service killed
on each pc, along with a ton of other resource wasting & potentially
troublesome background noise, like remote registry, computer browser,
distributed link tracking service, terminal services, and others that for
reasons I've never fully understood are on "automatic" by default.

Thanks again,

Dan



Posted by Eric on January 27, 2008, 3:51 pm
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>I have a Netgear WGR614 v6 wireless router which I have recently begun to
>use wirelessly for my wife's work laptop. There is also a desktop
>connected to the router via cat 6. Both machines are running XP SP2 with
>all updates. I have the router set as follows & want to be sure I'm doing
>all I can to maximize security on the network:
>
> - File sharing is OFF on both PC's
> - Router setup password has been changed to 14 random characters
> - Router updated with most recent firmware
> - SSID set to 13 random characters
> - SSID broadcast is OFF
> - WPA-PSK activated w/10 random character passphrase (tried a longer
> passphrase, but Windows Networking seemed to have trouble with it, kept
> defaulting to a shorter phrase). Key lifetime is the default 60 minutes.
> - Access control is ON with the MAC addresses for the 2 PC's being the
> only ones entered.
>
> We live in a fairly remote suburban area, so I don't think the threat of
> "wardriving" is what it might be in a more populated area, but I still
> want to be sure I'm doing all I can in terms of security.
>
> TIA
>
> Dan

Hi,

VPN and Radius Servers are complete overkill for your environment. Unless
you view setting either up as a learning exercise, its pretty silly to
consider either.

All you measures that you wrote are fine. I would, however, suggest that
you do broadcast a SSID. Broadcasting an SSID is part of the 802.11
specifications. By not broadcasting an SSID, at best it may cause you
problems, at worst your neighbors will consider it rude RFI.

Even with SSID broadcast disabled, you can still easily be seen. Disabling
SSID broadcast may even make you a more likely target because it looks like
you are trying to hide (which you can't).

As for using MAC filtering, that is your call. If MAC filtering is tied
into being able to dish out two static IP's to your two computers, then use
it. If not, then it doesn't really offer that much extra security. MAC
filtering may be another effective layer for that 80 year old granny across
the street, but not for her 14 year old great grandson.

Again, you sound fine on your LAN side, but are you okay on your WAN
(internet) side?



Posted by S. Pidgorny on January 30, 2008, 4:19 am
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Not broadcasting SSID and doing MAC filtering is security theatre and not
real security.
War driving is not a threat.
Your setup looks quite secure.

--
Svyatoslav Pidgorny, MS MVP - Security, MCSE
-= F1 is the key =-

* http://sl.mvps.org * http://msmvps.com/blogs/sp *

>I have a Netgear WGR614 v6 wireless router which I have recently begun to
>use wirelessly for my wife's work laptop. There is also a desktop
>connected to the router via cat 6. Both machines are running XP SP2 with
>all updates. I have the router set as follows & want to be sure I'm doing
>all I can to maximize security on the network:
>
> - File sharing is OFF on both PC's
> - Router setup password has been changed to 14 random characters
> - Router updated with most recent firmware
> - SSID set to 13 random characters
> - SSID broadcast is OFF
> - WPA-PSK activated w/10 random character passphrase (tried a longer
> passphrase, but Windows Networking seemed to have trouble with it, kept
> defaulting to a shorter phrase). Key lifetime is the default 60 minutes.
> - Access control is ON with the MAC addresses for the 2 PC's being the
> only ones entered.
>
> We live in a fairly remote suburban area, so I don't think the threat of
> "wardriving" is what it might be in a more populated area, but I still
> want to be sure I'm doing all I can in terms of security.
>
> TIA
>
> Dan
>



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