[adri]

So i'm using an unlocked 8320 with AT&t and no data plan and I'm just wondering if browsing the internet over wifi is safe. I would never check bank accounts or anything like that but like checking emails and facebook should be okay right? Sites that require usernames and passwords?

[username]

It should be safe. The chances of you connecting to a hackers wifi is slim if you ask me.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[sunkast]

I probably would be careful about usernames and passwords on networks I am not familiar with.

[NoMoreWindows]

Depends on the networks and there level of security. Also the security on the sites your going to.

[crimsontide]

You should be OK as the odds are in your favor that you won't be hacked. Having said that, no wifi is completely secure, even the one in your home. I sit at my home and can could connect to 4 other networks besides my own.

[adri]

Well the websites that I go to that require username & passwords and just gmail and my university's webmail. Do those seem secure? Oh and facebook.

[Dinan3]

you are taking a chance, but the likelyhood of someone intercepting your usernames and passwords are very slim, IMO. I wouldn't do any banking if i were you, or anything involving money over wifi.

[MrGq#CB]

Yea as Dinan3 said don't do any banking or with money, cause you never know.

[Pete6]

Depends on the networks and there level of security. Also the security on the sites your going to.

This is exactly correct. WiFi out of the box is wide open if you are so inclined and you have the equipment to steal other people's data.

There are several types of WiFi security:
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is the lowest level and a friend of mine who is a mathematician says he can crack this in 8 seconds ONCE he is connected and that means having the equipment (at least a laptop PC within range of the same wireless Access Point as you).

This link gives a reasonable overview of wirless security.

This link from Uncle Bill is more comprehensive and explains WPA seurity for wireless.

IMHO the risk is small but not zero. Be careful and remember:

Just because you are paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you.

[Reed McLay]

When I installed my router, I did some experimenting to determine which was the most secure and simple to work with.

After a while, I have decided that nothing beats the simplicity of open. My network consists of a router and a repeater so I can get a usable signal wherever I am working.

One side effect, I can provide a signal to my neighbours. The kids track down a hotspot in no time and I have given them the password with previous configurations.

Am I concerned about my security? Of course I am. I have plenty of experience with rights management and I am confidant only the shared folders I have authorized are available.

Nobody is getting past my Vista security, it has been bred from Windows NT, professional grade software.

[crimsontide]

Nobody is getting past my Vista security, it has been bred from Windows NT, professional grade software.

Stoner, while that does provide some level of security, it can be breached. There have been news reports of far more sophisticated security has been breached including ultra "secure" government computer systems.

[Pete6]

When I installed my router, I did some experimenting to determine which was the most secure and simple to work with.

After a while, I have decided that nothing beats the simplicity of open. My network consists of a router and a repeater so I can get a usable signal wherever I am working.

One side effect, I can provide a signal to my neighbours. The kids track down a hotspot in no time and I have given them the password with previous configurations.

Am I concerned about my security? Of course I am. I have plenty of experience with rights management and I am confidant only the shared folders I have authorized are available.

Nobody is getting past my Vista security, it has been bred from Windows NT, professional grade software.

Vista security has nothing to do with this. NTFS permissions (not rights, that's Novell) are internal to the machine. What is happening here is simple radio packet eavesdropping. This is how WiFi piracy is done. It is done in real time and you listen to what is happening on the network - all of the network.

A simple etehrnet packet sniffer wil suffice and you leave it running for a couple of hours and you have the ENTIRE network of the person you are hacking on your disk.

Remember we are dealing with Ethernet packets here so that every packet between every IP address on you network is available to a listener on your wirelss network.

You should immediately encrypt it using WPA-PSK using TKIP. This will securely encrypt each packet that goes over the radio making it very nearly impossible to decrypt.

This will prevent all but the most determined hacker from reading your packets.

An open WiFi system is quite literally an open invitation to be hacked. The simplest way to hack your open system is to connect to your open system and then to change the Internet Username and password to garbage, change your wireless modem/router password to garbage and then you are locked off the internet until you can find the correct username and password and do a hardware reset on the router.

This is my job.

[Reed McLay]

(not rights, that's Novell)

...do a hardware reset on the router.

This is my job.

LOL, guess that shows my age. Started with Novell way back in the 'day.

Thank you for the detailed explanation of the threat. I am aware that an intruder could access the router and do some mischief, but I did not realize all the traffic was exposed to a sniffer.

I use a custom SSID and have changed the default password for the router. That should keep mischievous fingers at bay, doing a router/repeater reset is the first diagnostic step anyway.

My neighbours are bairley computer literate, with the exception of the kids and their Wifi connected video games. I am not concerned that one of them might hack a X-box and make a sniffer.