Wireless router safety and vulnerabilities

S

Scott

I have happily had the same Linksys router (BEFSR41) for a few years
now and just lately have had issues with no connectivity. It is now
disconnected and I am directly connected to the modem. I went thru the
Support folks at Linksys in India and after multiple attempts to reset
both the modem and the router AND attempting to use, unsuccessfully,
specific Linksys addresses; they came to the conclusion that the router

was fried. This started last Thursday around the same time as Zonealarm

was updated coincidentally or not...who knows.
So, now I have a new Linksys wireless G router (so my wife whose office

is upstairs can connect to my hi speed connection wirelessly); I have
not hooked it up yet BUT I am now having belated concerns about
microwave emissions/radiation toasting my gonads over time (the router
is on top of my computer case under my desk). So I guess the questions
are:
How dangerous is a wireless router to one's health; in truth?
Is there a "safe" distance to place a wirless router from one's body so

as to not roast one's "gonads"?
I heard you can "lock down" a wirelss router by using the specific MAC
address of the "only" computer I want sharing the network (my wife's
upstairs) Will my computer be safe?
Finally, is my computer in essence 'hardwired' since the cable
connection goes straight into the modem and then a cable into the
router which is connected by cable directly to my computer with the
router 'transmitting' that signal 'wirelessly' to my wife's computer
upstairs) OR is my computer also 'broadcasting'?

Kinda long sorry,
 
R

Roberto

Scott said:
I have happily had the same Linksys router (BEFSR41) for a few years
now and just lately have had issues with no connectivity. It is now
disconnected and I am directly connected to the modem. I went thru the
Support folks at Linksys in India and after multiple attempts to reset
both the modem and the router AND attempting to use, unsuccessfully,
specific Linksys addresses; they came to the conclusion that the router

was fried. This started last Thursday around the same time as Zonealarm

was updated coincidentally or not...who knows.
So, now I have a new Linksys wireless G router (so my wife whose office

is upstairs can connect to my hi speed connection wirelessly); I have
not hooked it up yet BUT I am now having belated concerns about
microwave emissions/radiation toasting my gonads over time (the router
is on top of my computer case under my desk). So I guess the questions
are:
How dangerous is a wireless router to one's health; in truth?
Is there a "safe" distance to place a wirless router from one's body so

as to not roast one's "gonads"?
I heard you can "lock down" a wirelss router by using the specific MAC
address of the "only" computer I want sharing the network (my wife's
upstairs) Will my computer be safe?
Finally, is my computer in essence 'hardwired' since the cable
connection goes straight into the modem and then a cable into the
router which is connected by cable directly to my computer with the
router 'transmitting' that signal 'wirelessly' to my wife's computer
upstairs) OR is my computer also 'broadcasting'?

Kinda long sorry,

I think the "family jewels" will be safe, you can make the WiFi
connection safer by

1. using WPA Pre- shared key security
2. disabling SSID broadcast
3. MAC address filtering


rgds
Roberto
 

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