Can you tell if someone is stealing your wireless connection or snooping on you?

[cantdrv55]

Just wondering. I am surfing the net while waiting for my delayed flight back to Sac from John Wayne and noticed how many folks are surfing along with me. Is there a way to tell if someone's snooping on me or stealing my connection? By the way, I love people watching at airports.

[stomachmonkey]

Stealing your connection? Not unless you set your machine up as an access point, shared your connection. Something I think is easy to do with Windows as I see a lot of people broadcasting at public places.

Basically if you have no sharing turned on the only snooping that is reasonably possible is if someone hacked into or attached a packet sniffer to the network that you are on.

[gassy]

Nope. Impossible. Please don't turn your computer off I'm almost done.

[RWebb]

do you mean using your wifi radio for their own hookup, or sampling your data streams

[cantdrv55]

I don't know what I mean, I'm not that savvy. I've just heard that it's possible to steal your wireless and even your identity if surfing in public places.

[id10t]

I was traveling this time and cracked some guys laptop - his IP was 127.0.0.1 and he had a load of porn and music!



Seriously, trust no one. If you have a friend with a connection then setting up a proxy that you can connect to over SSL (or ssh tunnel) for your mail/web needs then you'll be much better off...

[bell]

The strange looking guy to your right with the headphones and bottled water is staring at you.....

[vash]

cant you check the network neighborhood?

[onlycafe]

this will keep you safe.

[cantdrv55]

You guys crack me up. Thanks for the comedy. I sure do need it while I wait another two hours for my delayed flight to get here. Seems there's a monsoon in Phoenix causing the mess.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

I don't know what I mean, I'm not that savvy. I've just heard that it's possible to steal your wireless and even your identity if surfing in public places.

WiFi has a very limited range - clear an area out with mortar fire & you'll have no problems

[masraum]

OK, if you are surfing, then your wifi connection can't be used/stolen. If you have a wifi router at your house, then it wouldn't be that hard for someone next door or in a car parked in front of your house to use your router's connection to get on the net. Still, it's really unlikely, and they would have to know some stuff, or at least do a little research to figure out how to do it if you have even basic security enabled.

Can someone steal your info or identity while you're surfing over wifi in a public place? Yes, but even that is fairly unlikely. Most wifi cards these days don't have the ability to go into promiscuous mode (a mode that can just listen to anything it can hear). That means that most wifi cards can only hear traffic destined for themselves. Are there cards/chipsets that will do promiscuous mode? Yes, and the folks that have them are the people that you'd have to worry about, but I bet they are .0001% of the population.

Could it happen to you? Yes. Is it very likely? No.

[Z-man]

If you have a wireless router at home, and it is not protected using WEP encryption or other type of passcode driven protection, (IE: it's an unsecured wireless connectin), then it doesn't take much for someone to attach to your network.

Once in, it wouldn't be hard for that person to log into your router. Most folks who don't secure their wireless router will also not change the admin password for the router. (User: Admin, Password: password is often the default). Once in the router, there are some basic functions that can be setup, like sending a log of all activity from the router to an email account. While this may not get the guy any passwords to your accounts, it will definately show him where you are surfing off to. (ex: Citibank, Bank of America, your mortgage company, Pelican Parts...etc).

If you have your own portable wifi hotspot, I am sure that the same thing can occur on your portable setup -- thus it is very important to have some level of security on your wireless access -- even if it is minimal. Hackers will follow the least path of resistence -- so if they find an unsecured wireless connection vs. your protected one, then you are safer.

Note: you can also cloak your whole network which would prevent your wireless router from even being seen by others.
-Z-man.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by id10t

I was traveling this time and cracked some guys laptop - his IP was 127.0.0.1 and he had a load of porn and music!

Now THAT'S funny! LOL!

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Z-man

If you have a wireless router at home, and it is not protected using WEP encryption or other type of passcode driven protection, (IE: it's an unsecured wireless connectin), then it doesn't take much for someone to attach to your network.

Once in, it wouldn't be hard for that person to log into your router. Most folks who don't secure their wireless router will also not change the admin password for the router. (User: Admin, Password: password is often the default). Once in the router, there are some basic functions that can be setup, like sending a log of all activity from the router to an email account. While this may not get the guy any passwords to your accounts, it will definately show him where you are surfing off to. (ex: Citibank, Bank of America, your mortgage company, Pelican Parts...etc).

If you have your own portable wifi hotspot, I am sure that the same thing can occur on your portable setup -- thus it is very important to have some level of security on your wireless access -- even if it is minimal. Hackers will follow the least path of resistence -- so if they find an unsecured wireless connection vs. your protected one, then you are safer.

Note: you can also cloak your whole network which would prevent your wireless router from even being seen by others.
-Z-man.

See there's the thing. If your router is does not have security enabled and someone parks in fornt of your house (War Driving) and joins your network you are exposed.

All they need is a packet sniffer (Wireshark · Go deep.) and they can capture all your traffic.

You should never ever transmit/receive financial data over anything other than an encrypted (https) connection.

Dave,

I think I run into that guy all the time as well as another dude, localhost.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by id10t

I was traveling this time and cracked some guys laptop - his IP was 127.0.0.1 and he had a load of porn and music!

Ha, I just got into that guys computer too. A real nut case. Some real disgusting stuff.

[Hugh R]

No expert here, but my home WiFi is encripted. When traveling whether at hotels or airports using WiFi I NEVER go to accounts like my on-line stock broker, or my bank. In fact, since I travel, I only do that online stuff from my home PC which has a wired connection. I also don't keep any passwords or log in names for those firms on my laptop. When I travel, I go to places like PP.

[Bill Douglas]

Hi Hugh, if you come to NZ you can use my computer for that sort of stuff. Just as long as we don't bump into that 127.0.0.1 guy with all the disgusting porn LOL.

[stealthn]

Yes if not encrypted or lightly encrypted very easy to do with free software on the web. Man in the middle the connection and you can `watch`everything.

I used to do a demonstration on a wired network where is would setup a fake bank web page, get the client to go and enter all their information and then tell them what type just typed.

No more secrets....

[Mr_Wizard]

I was traveling this time and cracked some guys laptop - his IP was 127.0.0.1 and he had a load of porn and music!

Waka Waka Waka. Be sure to tip you waitress.