Are we being hacked?

[howard]

My wife has a laptop that is connected to our home LAN behind our cable
modem router. It has a Centrino chip with the ability to be wireless, so I
have planned on getting something to allow her to use her computer anywhere
in the house - after researching what needs to be done to make it safe.


Two mornings now, my wife has started working, has gone to a flaky page that
she needs to be connected to - and received the following message connected
to an icon next to the time (she wrote the following on a post-it for me)

Wireless Network Connections
One or more wireless networks are available. To see a list of available
networks check here.

Thinking this may be someone going in through her wireless, I looked at
connections and disabled 1394 and NetWork Bridge. But when I tested, she
couldn't connect to my computer, so I enabled these back.

While doing this, I noticed a message from MSN messenger saying "You have
been signed off MSN messenger because you have been signed on at another
location.

The other day when this happened (I was at work), she said she couldn't get
e-mail for over an hour.

 

[R. McCarty]

Obviously, you have neighbors who have a Wireless network. Most
of them "Broadcast" their Wireless network names. This is why you
get the message "One of more wireless networks are available" For
security reasons, you should not broadcast your network name.

If her notebook is connected via an Ethernet cable, then no one can
access her notebook. It doesn't work that way. However, if your
router is wireless, it is possible someone is accessing it without your
knowledge. The problem with Routers (Wired/Wireless) is they
come with a "Standard" password. (Admin, etc). This is extremely
dangerous. The first thing to do when getting Broadband is to reset
the password of the Router/Modem. Also, Routers have a Web
interface where you can view the log. This will tell you what activities
have occurred. If someone has accessed it (Wireless) and gotten a
connection.

Remember the Internet is inherently dangerous.