A Question for the Computer Mavens

[Sarah]

How secure is Wireless internet? And further to that, how does one make it secure? DBF is moving into new housing that has wireless connections, and we're having trouble deciding how secure it really is. What do you all know/think?

TIA!! :)

[Robyn1007]

If its not a secured wireless network (needing a passkey) then it isn't at all secure. I wouldn't conduct my banking or any business with me cc# on it personally. If it is secured that's better but it sounds like everyone in the housing can access it so again, that threatens the security. I'm constantly amazed at how many people don't secure the network as it is very simple to do. In order to secure it he would need to have admin rights and once he secured it would need to give the passkey to everyone allowed to use it.

[funnybone]

Ours is secure, but I know several neighbors around here aren't. Like Robyn said, if you need a passkey to connect, it is secure.

[FruitsAlive]

To secure my home wireless network, I like to use MAC filtering in addition to passkey encryption. Find out who is administering the wireless network and see if they require any use agreements. If it's just somebody running a wireless router from their office, I wouldn't trust it unless I knew the person and that the person knew what they were doing.

[jem927]

This is a great topic, and one that prompts me to ask another question.

I just set up my own wireless router - for use with my laptop as well as my TIVO. Up until now I have had it set to unsecured so TIVO can connect. How do I secure it but still allow TIVO to access it?

Anyone have any thoughts/tips on that?

Thanks!

Jamie

[FruitsAlive]

Jem927, I have my wireless set up for TIVO and such using MAC filtering. It's extremely secure because only the unique address of the physical connection device can access your network.