Q, WiFi disabled, is it secure?

A: Not in all cases it seems ...

A while ago I noticed my D-Link DI-704 BB router was having
difficulties handling DHCP with more and more (newer) network cards so
I picked up a little new Q-Tec (Trust?) WiFi router (trade) via a
mate.

As I had a Netgear AP in the right place I disabled the WiFi
interface on the new router .. it said it was disabled in the gui and
the WLAN LED went off.

A while later I noticed a (open) WiFi lan out there (with Netstumbler
/ unrecognised SSID) so just thought it was a neighbours ?

Today I was testing a Belkin USB WiFi thingy on my lappy for a mate
and it connected to the 'unknown' network all by itself. I was able to
browse the web ("dangerous, leaving a network open like that" I
thought, tut tut) and thought I'd see just how insecure it was by
browsing the local net ..

Up came *my* workgroup and *my* shared folder (nothing interesting in
there but a surprise none the less)?

Weird (I thought), to access *my* WiFi net you need the WEP key and I
would need to add the mac address in the 'allow' table on the AP (not
100% secure I know but better than just 'open') and I hadn't done
either ..? (SSID broadcast is also turned off FWTW). I checked the
setting on the AP and all was as it should be?

I watched the signal monitor on the lappy WiFi app and turned off the
AP .. signal stayed the same! Hm, it MUST be someone elses WiFi I
thought .. then I turned off my Q-Tec router .. no signal on the lappy
....... WTF !!!

So, with wireless disabled on the router you loose the WLAN LED, get a
bogus SSID and have no wireless security at all.

Enable wireless you get the actual SSID and can at least enable WPA /
filters to make access less easy .. ;-(

I am awaitng a reply from their C/S ...

All the best ..

T i m