sanfranson
Norm, The Enourmous Basset
Premium
join:2001-02-08
San Francisco, CA
 ·SONIC.NET
·AT&T Yahoo
| Wireless Security
Two days ago, as proof that an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of keyboards will eventually type out the Constitution of the United States, I hit the combination of Fn and F2 keys that turned off my wireless modem. OK, there was only one monkey and the time was limited. Nevertheless, in the ten years that plus that I have owned computers, I have never done this. After fiddling around for hours on the computer, (my standard "repair" response), and calling Sonic support, I finally figured out what I had done and corrected it.
In the process, I learned that I had the only "unsecured" wireless connection point in the neighborhood. I LIKE the idea of being unsecured. Isn't the the whole idea of Sonic providing those "Merki" devices to amplify the range of the portal? Power to the people! Down with the capitalists! (Except you, Dane. You get a pass on the Doomsday list for being so responsive and polite.)
So am I in a lot of danger having an unsecured portal? I rarely use my email to transmit billions of dollars of funds to my offshore accounts. It seems mean to deny the use of a service that I am going to pay for anyway to someone who may be temporarily embarrassed.
Opinions of the old and wise are solicited. I should add that I am biased in favor of keeping it unsecured because I have also learned that my isp portal is so old that I would have to wrestle with technospeak instructions and hand-eye coordinations to secure it which have never been my strong suit.
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Cordially, SANFRANSON |
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unoriginal
join:2000-07-12
San Diego, CA
·DSL EXTREME
| This bit of news provides one reason that I would keep my wireless AP locked the best that you can:
»www.news.com/8301-13578_3-989915···nefd.pop
As far as the Meraki AP's that Sonic hands out - From what I understand Sonic keeps track of any traffic from the "other side" of the AP, basically anything not generated by you. So if for some reason the FBI or others suspect you may have done bad things on the interweb, Sonic can say, "Nope, here is who really did it." |
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DaneJasper
Sonic.Net
Premium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs:
| reply to sanfranson
If you have your own access point, we strongly recommend that you secure it.
If you have a mesh gateway that's part of our mesh Wi-Fi project, it's got it's own security measures. It, for example, cannot access your LAN, so wireless users can't see local resources. Also, we provide a switch with it, so it can have it's own non-routed access to the Internet, so it gets it's own IP address. This lets us point the copyright lawyers and law enforcement toward the actual culprit, not just the host of the access point.
Any questions?
-Dane |
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sanfranson
Norm, The Enourmous Basset
Premium
join:2001-02-08
San Francisco, CA
·SONIC.NET
·AT&T Yahoo
| Dear Dane,
Thanks for the response. I guess that I will have to root around and find the CD that came with my old Linksys Speedstream. I know that I did have it secured before I started rebooting it in my quest to find out why it wasn't working. I still have the password and encrypted key. Maybe that will make it easier.
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Cordially, SANFRANSON |
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sanfranson
Norm, The Enourmous Basset
Premium
join:2001-02-08
San Francisco, CA
·SONIC.NET
·AT&T Yahoo
| reply to sanfranson
Dear Dane,
Well, I have joined the ranks of the security conscious. My ip is now protected by WEP, which, I am told, is much inferior to WPA but, what the hey! It has an enormously long encrypted key, even longer than the one that I erased when I rebooted the wireless router in error. Anyway, everything still works. Sorry to all those neighbors who have been piggybacking on my service but mere amity cannot be allowed to hobble progress.
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Cordially, SANFRANSON |
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