Am I Secure? - Wireless Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shannon
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Shannon

I've got an Inspiron 8600 and a 6000. Both run XPHome, and have wireless
cards, but I do not have a wireless home network. At home, I am hardwired
in.

However, sometimes while at the kitchen table for instance, while working
off line on a document, when I'm not connected to my ethernet connections,
I will get my neighbor's (Linksys) wireless signal from across the street.
I can then see his entire hard drive and all of his files.

Can he also see my hard drive? I have not taken any precautions to secure
my wireless card, since I never use wireless, but this got me to
thinking...

I guess what I'm wondering is just by virtue of the fact that I have a
wireless card, even though I don't use it, am I open to others?

Before I ever had wireless laptops, I had 6 desktops set up on a home
ethernet network, fed by a cable modem, with separate 6 IPs. All ran Win9x
OS's. I communicated between machines using NetBEUI, with file sharing
bound only to the NetBEUI protocol. I unbound file sharing from TCP/IP. I
did this because I knew that file sharing was vulmerable to the outside
world if bound to TCP/IP, but not NetBEUI, since NetBEUI is not a routable
protocol.

Since then, I have gotten 2 XP desktops and these 2 XP laptops. Being used
to file sharing via NetBEUI, I installed NetBEUI on them and opend up file
sharing. I then went to unbind file sharing from TCP/IP, but couldn't find
a way to do that. Is there a way to unbind file sharing from TCP/IP in an
XP system? If so, would I then be secure?

Thanks
 
Shannon said:
I've got an Inspiron 8600 and a 6000. Both run XPHome, and have wireless
cards, but I do not have a wireless home network. At home, I am hardwired
in.

However, sometimes while at the kitchen table for instance, while working
off line on a document, when I'm not connected to my ethernet connections,
I will get my neighbor's (Linksys) wireless signal from across the street.
I can then see his entire hard drive and all of his files.

Can he also see my hard drive? I have not taken any precautions to secure
my wireless card, since I never use wireless, but this got me to
thinking...

I guess what I'm wondering is just by virtue of the fact that I have a
wireless card, even though I don't use it, am I open to others?

Before I ever had wireless laptops, I had 6 desktops set up on a home
ethernet network, fed by a cable modem, with separate 6 IPs. All ran
Win9x
OS's. I communicated between machines using NetBEUI, with file sharing
bound only to the NetBEUI protocol. I unbound file sharing from TCP/IP.
I
did this because I knew that file sharing was vulmerable to the outside
world if bound to TCP/IP, but not NetBEUI, since NetBEUI is not a routable
protocol.

Since then, I have gotten 2 XP desktops and these 2 XP laptops. Being
used
to file sharing via NetBEUI, I installed NetBEUI on them and opend up file
sharing. I then went to unbind file sharing from TCP/IP, but couldn't
find
a way to do that. Is there a way to unbind file sharing from TCP/IP in an
XP system? If so, would I then be secure?

Thanks
Click to expand...


If you do not use the Wireless card in the laptop, the best way to secure it
is to disable it in the Device Manager or in the BIOS if applicable.
 
However, sometimes while at the kitchen table for instance, while working
off line on a document, when I'm not connected to my ethernet connections,
I will get my neighbor's (Linksys) wireless signal from across the street.
I can then see his entire hard drive and all of his files.

Can he also see my hard drive?
Click to expand...

Go to http://grc.com and scroll down to "Shields Up!" Follow the
instructions to have that site probe your ports and files.

If you've got SP2, and you've enabled the firewall, you're probably
okay. Either way, you'll know. And if you're not okay, the same
site gives step-by-step instructions to secure your computer.
 
in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

Go to http://grc.com and scroll down to "Shields Up!" Follow the
instructions to have that site probe your ports and files.

If you've got SP2, and you've enabled the firewall, you're probably
okay. Either way, you'll know. And if you're not okay, the same
site gives step-by-step instructions to secure your computer.
Click to expand...

While using the SP2 firewall is good, it's not an excuse for an improperly
configured Wireless Access Point/Router. The wireless device needs to have
it's settings secured and that means to Disable SSID Broadcasting, enable
WEP/128bit, etc... Once this is done the users network will not be
accessible by anyone without the key (in general).
 
1. Be a good neighbor and tell your neighbor to secure his network.

2. While you're connected to his (her) network and have access to his hard
drive, he most likely is able to see yours. Because you have a wired network,
your XP firewall is likely set to permit file and printer sharing, so when
you're connected to your neighbor's wireless network, your firewall probably is
not protecting you from access via that network.

3. Unless you have the wireless adapter in your laptop configured in ad hoc
mode (not likely), someone driving down the street will not detect your laptop
(they will, however, see your neighbor's wireless access point, which is
broadcasting his ssid).

4. If you don't have a wireless network, and don't see the need to connect to
one (at least for the time being), most laptops have a way to disable the
wireless adapter, i.e., turn off the radio transmitter/receiver (I know on a
friend's Toshiba there is a physical switch on the side of the laptop). Once
you turn that off, you should have complete peace of mind concerning anyone
being able to connect to your computer. If you can't figure this out from
"help" try your manufactures support site.
 
While using the SP2 firewall is good, it's not an excuse for an improperly
configured Wireless Access Point/Router. The wireless device needs to have
it's settings secured and that means to Disable SSID Broadcasting, enable
WEP/128bit, etc... Once this is done the users network will not be
accessible by anyone without the key (in general).
Click to expand...

I agree, if the OP has a wireless network. That wasn't clear to me.
Rightly or wrongly, it seemed to me that the OP has a notebook with
wireless capability but normally uses a wired Ethernet connection.
 
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