Help!! Feel "lost" as parent of a WIFI college student

Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated! My son, who is away in
college and lives in his fraternity house, just informed me the frat house
went wireless in their effort to provide every resident's room with personal
internet access. Fine. It's been working well, so far...

All of a sudden, the local newspaper did a Sunday story on "wardrivers" and
illustrated how easy it is to plug into any PC using wireless internet
connections. Now my son, as well as many of his house mates, are in fear
their PC's can be easily compromised and he has asked me what he can do
about it as an individual, since not all internet users in the house feel as
"exposed" or otherwise concerned enough to want to do anything at the
"house" level.

What can he do with his own PC and internet connection to ensure as much
privacy as possible and secure his system from anyone "breaking in"? I've
run searches on PC wireless security, LAN, etc., but, quite frankly, I'm
lost in all the tech jargon and not sure what's available for the casual PC
user. Any help will be really appreciated!

Ed Paul

Ed Paul <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated! My son, who is away in
> college and lives in his fraternity house, just informed me the frat house
> went wireless in their effort to provide every resident's room with personal
> internet access. Fine. It's been working well, so far...
>
> All of a sudden, the local newspaper did a Sunday story on "wardrivers" and
> illustrated how easy it is to plug into any PC using wireless internet
> connections. Now my son, as well as many of his house mates, are in fear
> their PC's can be easily compromised and he has asked me what he can do
> about it as an individual, since not all internet users in the house feel as
> "exposed" or otherwise concerned enough to want to do anything at the
> "house" level.

Basically it's due to idiots.
The various companies supply the routers/... with no passwords set, and
don't include the fact that you need to setup passwords and encryption
in 72 point bright orange lettering on the outside of the box, so most
people don't.

If WEP/WPA is not enabled, then basically anyone can read anything on your
network, and in some common circumstances impersonate any PC, and do anything
it could.
If WEP is enabled, then it's much harder to crack, but given a few hours or
days (maybe only minutes in some cases where the network is highly used) the
encryption can be cracked, and all is as above.

WPA is the next generation, which is supposed to be secure.

Many ways to secure a wireless network.

1) WAP - check router docs
2) WEP - check router docs
3) Filtering - ip address, mac address, etc. - check router docs
4) Firewall on local computer - many different products, this would
probably give a high degree of security to the individual computer but
not the network. Search internet for more info.
5) Google search
http://www.google.com/search?q=secure+wireless+network

I guess your real question is what is the best way to secure a
wireless network? Turn the wireless network off and use real wire with
a real firewall (something like iptables) designed to protect a secure
network. Make sure the firewall has all services turned off and all
incoming new connection ports closed. That should make it really secure.

For the real paranoid just disconnect from the internet and lock your
computer in a safe. ;-)

Really these college kids should ask someone in the computer lab
how to do this. That is what all that tuition pays for.

Later

>>>>> "Ed" == Ed Paul <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

Ed> Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated! My son, who is
Ed> away in college and lives in his fraternity house, just informed
Ed> me the frat house went wireless in their effort to provide every
Ed> resident's room with personal internet access. Fine. It's been
Ed> working well, so far...

Ed> All of a sudden, the local newspaper did a Sunday story on
Ed> "wardrivers" and illustrated how easy it is to plug into any PC
Ed> using wireless internet connections. Now my son, as well as many
Ed> of his house mates, are in fear their PC's can be easily
Ed> compromised and he has asked me what he can do about it as an
Ed> individual, since not all internet users in the house feel as
Ed> "exposed" or otherwise concerned enough to want to do anything at
Ed> the "house" level.

Ed> What can he do with his own PC and internet connection to ensure
Ed> as much privacy as possible and secure his system from anyone
Ed> "breaking in"? I've run searches on PC wireless security, LAN,
Ed> etc., but, quite frankly, I'm lost in all the tech jargon and not
Ed> sure what's available for the casual PC user. Any help will be
Ed> really appreciated!

Ed> Ed Paul

Spam Me Please <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Many ways to secure a wireless network.
>
> 1) WAP - check router docs
> 2) WEP - check router docs
> 3) Filtering - ip address, mac address, etc. - check router docs
Without one of the first two, the third is essentially useless.
It may stop quite a lot of people, but forging MAC and IP address is trivial.
If you ever switch a node off, then the attacker can perfectly simulate it.

>>>>> "Ian" == Ian Stirling <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

Ian> Spam Me Please <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> Many ways to secure a wireless network.
>>
>> 1) WAP - check router docs 2) WEP - check router docs 3) Filtering
>> - ip address, mac address, etc. - check router docs
Ian> Without one of the first two, the third is essentially useless.
Ian> It may stop quite a lot of people, but forging MAC and IP
Ian> address is trivial. If you ever switch a node off, then the
Ian> attacker can perfectly simulate it.

Very true, and concur completely with that last statement.

Securing a wireless network is an interesting topic. For more
information check out this url:


http://www.cs.umd.edu/~waa/wireless.pdf

Interesting reading to the say the least.

Good luck

Best thing for him to do is get a Firewall and Antivirus, that should
protect HIM from outside interference.

You can look at http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/nis_pe/index.html for
Norton Internet Security 2004.

Bill

p.s. next step is to get the frat's wireless network secure

"Ed Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C2kzb.381035$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated! My son, who is away in
> college and lives in his fraternity house, just informed me the frat house
> went wireless in their effort to provide every resident's room with
personal
> internet access. Fine. It's been working well, so far...
>
> All of a sudden, the local newspaper did a Sunday story on "wardrivers"
and
> illustrated how easy it is to plug into any PC using wireless internet
> connections. Now my son, as well as many of his house mates, are in fear
> their PC's can be easily compromised and he has asked me what he can do
> about it as an individual, since not all internet users in the house feel
as
> "exposed" or otherwise concerned enough to want to do anything at the
> "house" level.
>
> What can he do with his own PC and internet connection to ensure as much
> privacy as possible and secure his system from anyone "breaking in"? I've
> run searches on PC wireless security, LAN, etc., but, quite frankly, I'm
> lost in all the tech jargon and not sure what's available for the casual
PC
> user. Any help will be really appreciated!
>
> Ed Paul
>
>

Ed Paul wrote:
> Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated! My son, who is away in
> college and lives in his fraternity house, just informed me the frat house
> went wireless in their effort to provide every resident's room with personal
> internet access. Fine. It's been working well, so far...
>
> All of a sudden, the local newspaper did a Sunday story on "wardrivers" and
> illustrated how easy it is to plug into any PC using wireless internet
> connections. Now my son, as well as many of his house mates, are in fear
> their PC's can be easily compromised and he has asked me what he can do
> about it as an individual, since not all internet users in the house feel as
> "exposed" or otherwise concerned enough to want to do anything at the
> "house" level.
>
> What can he do with his own PC and internet connection to ensure as much
> privacy as possible and secure his system from anyone "breaking in"? I've
> run searches on PC wireless security, LAN, etc., but, quite frankly, I'm
> lost in all the tech jargon and not sure what's available for the casual PC
> user. Any help will be really appreciated!
>
> Ed Paul
>
>
The advice I've read on this thread is all good,
but no-one has suggested that the biggest danger in these circumstances
is likely to come from inside the frat house,
rather than someone lurkng on the highway.

IMHO a college environment should be treated as hostile by default.
On personal systems
services should be locked down if not removed,
packet filtering in place at all times,
regardless of the network medium.

A college mindful of the value of a student's work
should be ready to advise, I agree

Kevin

The first thing your son needs to do is speak with the person(s) who set up
the wireless network at the frat house and discuss his security concerns.
Perhaps they've already implemented encryption and firewall technology. If
not, maybe he and the other concerned students could get together and set up
their own private secure network within the house. I'm sure that would get
someone's attention and quickly resolve the issue.

"Ed Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C2kzb.381035$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated! My son, who is away in
> college and lives in his fraternity house, just informed me the frat house
> went wireless in their effort to provide every resident's room with
personal
> internet access. Fine. It's been working well, so far...
>
> All of a sudden, the local newspaper did a Sunday story on "wardrivers"
and
> illustrated how easy it is to plug into any PC using wireless internet
> connections. Now my son, as well as many of his house mates, are in fear
> their PC's can be easily compromised and he has asked me what he can do
> about it as an individual, since not all internet users in the house feel
as
> "exposed" or otherwise concerned enough to want to do anything at the
> "house" level.
>
> What can he do with his own PC and internet connection to ensure as much
> privacy as possible and secure his system from anyone "breaking in"? I've
> run searches on PC wireless security, LAN, etc., but, quite frankly, I'm
> lost in all the tech jargon and not sure what's available for the casual
PC
> user. Any help will be really appreciated!
>
> Ed Paul
>
>

Your son lives on a college campus. Surely someone there easily accessible
to him is an expert on this subject. Every college campus has a compute
science department. Don't understand why he'd be asking his parents to
figure this out for him...

What are all the frats in this house majoring in? English lit?

"Ed Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C2kzb.381035$(E-Mail Removed)...

> What can he do with his own PC and internet connection to ensure as much
> privacy as possible and secure his system from anyone "breaking in"?

So you think all college campuses just happen to come with their own
resident
wireless LAN technology expert who has nothing better to do with his or her
time than to consult with lowly students? And you also think the computer
science department has something to do with networking? Please. They teach
programming and software development, not infrastructure.

"timewilltell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) s.com...
> Your son lives on a college campus. Surely someone there easily accessible
> to him is an expert on this subject. Every college campus has a compute
> science department. Don't understand why he'd be asking his parents to
> figure this out for him...
>
> What are all the frats in this house majoring in? English lit?
>
> "Ed Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:C2kzb.381035$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > What can he do with his own PC and internet connection to ensure as much
> > privacy as possible and secure his system from anyone "breaking in"?
>
>