cable vs. dsl security

Cable is less secure than dsl. See :

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/home_networks.html

Section II B:
"Typical speeds tend to be lower than the maximum, however, since cable providers turn entire neighborhoods into LANs which share the same bandwidth. Because of this "shared-medium" topology, cable modem users may experience somewhat slower network access during periods of peak demand, and may be more susceptible to risks such as packet sniffing and unprotected windows shares than users with other types of connectivity."

Also see Section III -- "Computer security risks to home users" at the above link.

Your security risks are about the same. Yes, many DSL providers use dynamic IPs, but many cable providers do also. Regardless, your particular IP address may only change if your computer is off for an extended period of time (longer than the IP lease life set by the ISP-usually 24 hours), or if the provider does a wholesale IP address change on a regular basis (most providers don't).

The bottom line is that you still have a 24x7 open connection to the Internet with either cable or DSL. Ifyou leave your computer on all the time, you will be always connected and thus susceptible to hacking risks. Your best bet is to employ either a hardware or software firewall if you value the privacy of the data on your computer.

While it might be technically possible to employ a sniffer on a cable segment, the person attempting to do so would need direct access to the either the cable trunk line (in which case he would need to weed out your particular data packets from the millions of others on the line), or direct access to your particular cable connection. The same could be done with a DSL or phone connection.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

One point about cable security that was not brought up, is that your neighbors have access to your cable stream all the way back to the branch in the main trunkline. All anyone would need to do, is guess or intercept your IP address, and they couldmonitor your internet traffic.

This is not true for DSL.
(Unless you are on a party line.)

Also, your cable speed will decrease as more users log onto the trunkline that serves your neighborhood. Whereas, your DSL speed will remain nearly constant.

Chas

This question was auto closed due to inactivity