Wireless Network - Netgear Router - Wep is set up ISO MORE Security Help

[FTLOSM]

I have a Netgear 614 wireless router here at home with comcast cable internet, when I hooked it up I went in and changed the SSID and added basic wep protection - that is probably more than 1/2 of the people who have wireless routers since here at home I can see and connect if i choose to 2 other wireless connections in my area that are showing no security of anykind and never even changed their ssid info etc.

Anyways I know there are programs out there that can crack wep protection and mine is basic B with 64 vs 128 encryption, so I am not sitting here thinking I am locked down SOLID etc... I know if someone wants in they will get in.. hopefully they will just use my neighbors OPEN wireless connections vs mine hehe..

But I want to learn more about what programs or things I can do here to secure things even more, is there a way when not using my laptop that I can make my router turn the wireless part OFF? So that only the hard wired devices are active, then I turn it on when i use the laptop (which is generally only on weekends) my tivo and 2 main pcs are hard wired, only the laptop uses the wireless and thats only once in a while.

Also is there any program out there that I can run on my pc or the laptop to tell me if someone is using my wireless (say some hacker got in etc) I just want to know if there is a way I can monitor if someone DID get in or not?

Thanks for any help on helping me secure what I have running moreso and or to help me detrmine if someone else is even attempting (or using currently) my connection.

I don't have my pcs setup to share files printers or anything like that, I just never needed that feature, I don't know if thats a good thing or not or if there is anything within the pcs I can or should adjust to allow someone to access my pc's or laptops files but since I do alot of work stuff from home there are some files that contain personal info on employees and or cases in the works that I want to try and keep as safe as possible and of course my own personal emails and banking info etc, ...

Bill

 

[Madwand1]

There are lots of versions of the Netgear 614, but seeing that even the version 1 has firmware with WPA-PSK, it's probable that they all support WPA-PSK, so the limiting factor's your laptop.

I'd personally spend the $30 or whatever to get a good wireless device for the laptop that supports WPA-PSK and be done with the problem.

You can probably add MAC filtering and SSID hiding on the router to increase the difficulty of hacking a little higher than just WEP-128.

Some routers support time-dependent rules, but I think it's unlikely that this would support one as specific as your wants here.

 

[jlazzaro]

definitely go wpa-psk...wep is old, inefficient, and can be cracked in 3 minutes by anyone who knows what their doing. then again, its only as secure as your passphrase.

wpa with a short simple key is just as vulnerable to a brute-force dictionary attack as wep. but, wpa with a complex 31 character password of random upper/lowercase letters and numbers would take about 15 billion years crack.

just make sure your password is at least 21 characters (not words) and you should be okay.

 

[James Bond]

Is wpa == wpa-psk? Is it just more encrypted?

What is the purpose of SSID hiding? Isn't the SSID just the literal 'name' of the wireless broadcast?

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: Tizyler
Is wpa == wpa-psk? Is it just more encrypted?

What is the purpose of SSID hiding? Isn't the SSID just the literal 'name' of the wireless broadcast?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Access

SSID hiding is probably not worth defending; I've seen that and WEP-128 cracked myself.