A good warning for those who use wifi

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110424/ap_ ... fi_warning

I can tell how this story goes just from the title and the first line... mainstream news, eh?

I'm very surprised when people don't have their wifi locked down.

Is it possible to use a router without a password?

They interviewd the guys neighboor on the local news he said that they lumped the guy up pretty good before they figured they were at the wrong house. What a nightmare.

Sure, if you don't password protect your router, it comes up on your neighbors computer as an available wireless source, the same way it would when you use it in your home. A generic name of the router may come up, indicating the manufacturer, like Belkin54.

But, there may be newer ones today that require a password to work, I'm not sure about that.

Mine required a password setup before I could do anything.

Is your router automatically protected if you need a password to logon to your computer? I'm about as computer savvy as dirt .

Whenever my router resets, I have to enter this long key to get it to work. Plus, there's the password I have to enter when I sign on. Anyone who tries to use my wireless access has to know that password or forget about it. I guess that means it's protected. Hope that's what it means .
There are some wifis that are free that don't require a password. They are at public places like Burgerking, IHOP, Borders, etc. Could someone do something illegal on those?

Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 24 Apr 2011, 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I steal my neighbor's internet all the time when my internet connection acts up and I use it for my Wii sometimes because he doesn't have it password protected. I don't know who it belongs too but our router and Wii picks up that connection and I use it sometimes. Ours is password protected and we don't need to put in a password every time we get online. But the neighbor is darn lucky I am not some freak who goes into illegal websites like child porn.

That's a good thing, it was an option on some of the older models.

Yes, your computer is definitely protected. All I use is the long key and it is still protected without logging on each time with a password.

I don't see how it would be any different at a public place, I'm sure the public places couldn't be held liable though. Anyone else have a different answer?

It's the same with my router. Thanks for the info, aghogday. I thought it was protected, but then I wondered if it was just the modem or the modem and the router or what. With so many passwords, it gets confusing. I did know something was protected, just wasn't sure what it was

A small point - you're not actually stealing anything.
If a router has been set up - deliberately or not - as a public access point then it positively solicits connections. It practically stands on a street corner in fishnets blowing a trumpet to attract them.
Likewise, if your own system can't find the signal it would normally work with, then it will typically try to sniff out another one with which it can - and if a public one is visible then that's what gets used.
That's how the protocols are designed work, and there is no way your own system can detect whether it's 'supposed' or 'not really supposed' to connect.

Now whether any of this is what your neighbour intends, well, that's another matter and I sure ain't going there.
The protocols don't include incompetency handlers.

Not really, Cornflake, unless it's a free wifi connection. If it's private, it's paid for by someone and you shouldn't take what someone else is paying for unless they invite you, specifically and clearly, not just with an unprotected router. They might not even be aware it's unprotected.