| Very strange situation with WPA2 router This is my first time posting here so hi all  , I just experienced a situation a few days ago to witch I have no explanation so maybe one of you guys can figure it out
Ok so here is what happened:
I have a Hp 2510p laptop (»www.notebookreview.com/default.a···sID=3905) running windows xp sp3, at home I have my WPA2 enabled network witch my laptop connects to and another WPA2 network with SSID: "dlink" (for witch I have no password, I dont even know the guy that owns it, its a neighbor I think). One day I had to go work for about 30 mins and I took my gf with me, she was waiting in the car with the laptop, she wanted to surf the net so after scanning I found a few unsecured wireless networks, 1 was called: "dlink" i tried to connect to it but couldn't (I think the signal was too weak), I think then windows registered it as a preferred network, I left quickly after not being able to connect to "dlink" and I told my gf to keep searching for an unsecured wireless network and connect to it witch she did and when I came back to the car she was using another unsecured network (I cant remember the SSID but I dont think its important). When I got home I started my laptop (my computer witch is setup as a wireless router was off), the laptop was connected to the secured "dlink"!!! I was online thou my router was off!!!. I dont use any other software to connect to wireless networks except windows, i quickly went to the saved wireless networks and checked "dlink" proprieties the security was open - unsecured yet I was connected to it, the next second I tryied to connect to the same "dlink" with my other laptop running windows 7, it was asking for a password!!! I noticed in the "dlink" proprieties on the hp laptop the password boxes were grayed out but had a password in them. The router of the "dlink" network is a DIR-300 Hardware Version : B1 Firmware Version : 2.01.
My question is: (for those of you that managed to read it all
How the hell did my hp laptop connect to the neighbor's "dlink" at home without the WPA2 password? (Should I start suspecting my gf? I'm thinking it has to do with the "dlink" at work being unsecured? Or maybe the DIR-300 has a security issue?
Thanks |
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 nwrickertsand groperPremium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL
kudos:7
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| I can only guess.
Maybe the dlink is set for WPS (wireless protected setup) and gave your system a key. That might require intervention. But perhap a button lit up and flashed on the dlink router, and the owner pressed that button to silence it.
Or perhaps the dlink is setup as part of a sting operation.
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AT&T Uverse; Zyxel NBG334W router (behind the 2wire gateway); openSuSE 12.1; firefox 9.0.1 |
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| Thanks for your reply, the router is set to WPS because I now have access to it does that mean that WPS can in certain circumstances give away the WPA key? if so what are those circumstances as I have not been able to replicate the situation and connect another laptop the same way, what do you mean by "setup as part of a sting operation"? |
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nwrickertsand groperPremium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL
kudos:7 Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
| I have always disabled WPS as a security hazard. So I don't know the full ins and outs of it. It does look to me that you have demonstrated one of the security hazards.
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AT&T Uverse; Zyxel NBG334W router (behind the 2wire gateway); openSuSE 12.1; firefox 9.0.1 |
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 NetFixerFrom my cold dead handsPremium
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
 ·Comcast Business..
 ·Vonage
 ·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast
| reply to theshadow
said by theshadow:...what do you mean by "setup as part of a sting operation"?
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_operation
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History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower |
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| reply to theshadow
dlink is a common ssid.
I'm almost 100% certain you connected to a faint unsecured connection of the same name, signal faded due to a million reasons and you tried to connect to a secured dlink ssid.
I've had windows xp misreport security status of particular ssid's constantly. It used to show my router as unsecured periodically but its was not. |
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