Networks

Is no more at risk over wi-fi, than it is over copper. Either way it is traversing the public internet, where pretty muuch anyone that wants to can see it. The important thing here is that the bank or online site is using an encrypted session (SSL) to transact with you.

Wireless IS less secure than copper. Take a look at this: http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/08/30/defcon2006_janus_project/
Now you might think this is paranoid, and you might ask yourself, "but what are the chances of it happenning to me"?
but that is NOT the question you should ask. You should ask yourself this:
Should I give them the opportunity?
When it boils down to it you can use WEP, WPA, WPA2, MAC Address filtering and choose not to advertise your network, but there's not yet a wi-fi that is as secure as copper sitting behind a stateful hardware firewall and even then there are risks.
The internet is inherrently unsecure. Getting on it is a lottery. If you make yourself REALLY secure with the strongest firewall imaginable you might even be inviting interest from the pesky hackers with their port-scanning tools and their... "wonder what they've got to hide behind all that security" ethos.
You just have to balance your need for visiting cyberspace with the potential risk and ask yet another question:
"do you feel lucky, punk"?

Quote:

I heard you can stop people getting access to your network by setting allowed mac address's.

Yes you can, but it is easy to spoof MAC Addresses under linux/unix!

For banking , I at the moment would stay wired and make sure you have a well configured hardware firew0all, software firewall and scan your machine reguarly for spyware/malware/trojans/keyloggers and other virus like software

Easy to spoof MAC addresses under Windows too.

So can any hacker....

If someone wants to get into a home router badly enough, they're probably going to. But first they have to be able to see it. You can buy directional antennas so that the signal only covers what you want it to cover, but ultimately your doing the best thing... protecting the computers that are hooked to the router.

I do all of my banking, most of my bill paying, and about a third of my purchases online. Never had a problem.


[added: Many routers also have an option to reduce the power output. This will also reduce the likelihood of it being found.]

I've been pricing it out, and researching it out. But I knew I didn't have the knowledge to do it securely, so I just didn't jump. That's why when I seen this post I book marked it.
Now that I at least know what to look for in a router, and the procedures that should be done. I think I'll finally go wireless.
Thanks everyone, very much appreciate this set of post's even if I didn't start it.

Dan

decide where you want to have signal and where you DON'T want signal. The further back in the house away from the road, the better. Sometimes even moving it into the basement is a good idea as the signal will come up to the next floor, but will have a hard time reaching the road.

Take your laptop out and walk around with it to see how strong of a signal you are sending out by the road and around your house. If the signal is still too strong, try taking the antenna off and test it again.

Passwords are a must.

You can also usually restrict to only certain MAC addresses. Remember MAC's can be spoofed easily though so don't rely on that.

Isn't it recommended to turn SSID right off?

Your best bet is to get a router with a DMZ port and a wireless access point and plug it into the DMZ. This is more secure than getting a wireless router as it will segment off all of your PC's behind a firewall. As you know the IP range and where to find it, you can open holes based on your MAC address if you need to connect to any of your PC's.

is also a must. Don't just 'set it and forget it'. Check the router's logs frequently. That way you can see if anyone's getting in that you don't want to.