OT: unathorized network user.

[Ian Malone]

On 24/01/2008, Mikkel L. Ellertson <mikkel at infinity-ltd.com> wrote:

> When you are talking about wireless security, it is not just the
> information on your local network that valuable. The network
> connection itself is also valuable. This is especially true if the
> attacker wants to do things that they do not want traced back to
> them. If they use your connection to send out SPAM, you stand a good
> chance of having to prove to your ISP that you did not do it. If
> they use it to break into another system, you may end up explaining
> it to the police, or having to defent yourself in court. If it is
> someone that lives close enough to use your connection for long
> periods, they may use it for file sharing. This is especially true
> if you have not changed your routers password, or have UPnP enabled
> on the router.
>

Of course, as has been pointed out, if they have had to attack your
network to do any of that then you are in a much better position than
if you had just left it open. Thus MAC filtering is useful, and if for some
reason you can't use WPA then WEP is still worth having.  You just
then have to be more careful about trusting traffic on your network
(and I assume that those concerned with security /don't/ trust traffic
on any network with a wireless component).

-- 
imalone