Is my desktop broadcasting thru my router?

[gypsyman]

Just setup a netgear router to my dsl line and desktop. Got my new Dell 9300 laptop running on wifi. Everthing installed properly but I needed assistance from Netgear tech to enable my security which he had me set to 64bit wep. The 9300 finds the connection and works fine. My question is when I am using the desktop I look at the router and the wifi indicator light is on all the time. Am I broadcasting all the time even when Iam just using the desktop? I plan to do paypal,ebay and other transactions via the desktop until I am sure the lappy is very secure. Newbie questions as you can see.

 

[spherrod]

Your Wifi signal will be broadcasting all the time - however, people will need your WEP key to access it. As an added security precaution you should make sure the SSID is hidden and also that only specified MAC addresses are allowed to connect to the router. You should probably also use 128 Bit WEP.

 

[Need4Speed]

wep isnt all that safe and can be hacked pretty easily by a persistant hacker....
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1814

if youre hardware supports it, you should enable WPA....

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: Need4Speed
wep isnt all that safe and can be hacked pretty easily by a persistant hacker....
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1814

if youre hardware supports it, you should enable WPA....

True, but for the vast majority a combination of WEP, hidden SSID and MAC filtering should be sufficient

EDIT: If WPA is available then this should be enabled over WEP

 

[gypsyman]

thanks for the help.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: spherrod

Originally posted by: Need4Speed
wep isnt all that safe and can be hacked pretty easily by a persistant hacker....
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1814

if youre hardware supports it, you should enable WPA....

True, but for the vast majority a combination of WEP, hidden SSID and MAC filtering should be sufficient

EDIT: If WPA is available then this should be enabled over WEP

hidden SSID is a joke, and can be found easily, while mac addresses can be spoofed in no time. I would only use WEP as a last resort if my hardware absolutely couldnt support it. But I wouldnt be using that wireless pc for anything other than surfing.

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: Need4Speed

Originally posted by: spherrod

Originally posted by: Need4Speed
wep isnt all that safe and can be hacked pretty easily by a persistant hacker....
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1814

if youre hardware supports it, you should enable WPA....

True, but for the vast majority a combination of WEP, hidden SSID and MAC filtering should be sufficient

EDIT: If WPA is available then this should be enabled over WEP

hidden SSID is a joke, and can be found easily, while mac addresses can be spoofed in no time. I would only use WEP as a last resort if my hardware absolutely couldnt support it. But I wouldnt be using that wireless pc for anything other than surfing.

You are correct, but for the majority of people the above setup would be secure enough.