Security and IP address

I have recently been converted to wifi, firstly when my girfriend got a card
for her laptop pc, and I have now got a card for my desktop pc.

My girlfriend's flat is in the same condominium block as my flat, but there
are quite a few flats and a couple of floors between us, and the access
point is in my flat and she gets "good" or "very good" reception most of the
time in her flat.

My ISP gives me a block of 8 fixed IP addresses and (5 usable) and we use 2
of these IP's between us.

As yet I have not set up any security (wep etc), but if someone tried to use
my connection they would need to find one of the 3 unused IP adresses in
order to "surf" my connection.

How easy would a casual surfer be able to discover which of my 8 IP
addresses are "free" and availiable to surf my connection on?

(I might add that my broadband router has NOT got DHCP and each pc needs to
be manually set up with an IP address to connect).

Thanks

How easy would a casual surfer be able to discover which of my 8 IP
addresses are "free" and availiable to surf my connection on?

a casual surfer may stumble across it, and with a little know how it would
be very easy to get on.



"Adrian Boliston" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:btfii8$6jje1$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have recently been converted to wifi, firstly when my girfriend got a
card
> for her laptop pc, and I have now got a card for my desktop pc.
>
> My girlfriend's flat is in the same condominium block as my flat, but
there
> are quite a few flats and a couple of floors between us, and the access
> point is in my flat and she gets "good" or "very good" reception most of
the
> time in her flat.
>
> My ISP gives me a block of 8 fixed IP addresses and (5 usable) and we use
2
> of these IP's between us.
>
> As yet I have not set up any security (wep etc), but if someone tried to
use
> my connection they would need to find one of the 3 unused IP adresses in
> order to "surf" my connection.
>
> How easy would a casual surfer be able to discover which of my 8 IP
> addresses are "free" and availiable to surf my connection on?
>
> (I might add that my broadband router has NOT got DHCP and each pc needs
to
> be manually set up with an IP address to connect).
>
> Thanks
>
>

Adrian Boliston <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I have recently been converted to wifi, firstly when my girfriend got a card
> for her laptop pc, and I have now got a card for my desktop pc.
>
> My girlfriend's flat is in the same condominium block as my flat, but there
> are quite a few flats and a couple of floors between us, and the access
> point is in my flat and she gets "good" or "very good" reception most of the
> time in her flat.
>
> My ISP gives me a block of 8 fixed IP addresses and (5 usable) and we use 2
> of these IP's between us.
>
> As yet I have not set up any security (wep etc), but if someone tried to use
> my connection they would need to find one of the 3 unused IP adresses in
> order to "surf" my connection.

They only need to find a PC that's switched off that they have seen accessing
the net.
As to how easy it's to find the IP addresses, you have 217.169.3.144-151.
If someone sniffed one of your packets from any one of those machines,
it's trivial for them to guess that any IP addresses from that pool not seen
could be used.
If you don't intend for it to be accessed by the general public, at least
turn WEP on.

"Adrian Boliston" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<btfii8$6jje1$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> How easy would a casual surfer be able to discover which of my 8 IP
> addresses are "free" and availiable to surf my connection on?

Your IP address is visible as part of every packet sent to or from
your PC. If your "casual surfer" is running any sort of
sniffer/stumbler software, he'll be able to determine your IP address
trivially, and trying static IPs adjacent to the one(s) in use is the
obvious solution when an AP is not serving dynamic addresses.

Turn WEP on. It's easy and it's free.

-Gabriel

Adrian Boliston wrote:

> I have recently been converted to wifi, firstly when my girfriend got a card
> for her laptop pc, and I have now got a card for my desktop pc.
>
> My girlfriend's flat is in the same condominium block as my flat, but there
> are quite a few flats and a couple of floors between us, and the access
> point is in my flat and she gets "good" or "very good" reception most of the
> time in her flat.
>
> My ISP gives me a block of 8 fixed IP addresses and (5 usable) and we use 2
> of these IP's between us.
>
> As yet I have not set up any security (wep etc), but if someone tried to use
> my connection they would need to find one of the 3 unused IP adresses in
> order to "surf" my connection.
>
> How easy would a casual surfer be able to discover which of my 8 IP
> addresses are "free" and availiable to surf my connection on?
>
> (I might add that my broadband router has NOT got DHCP and each pc needs to
> be manually set up with an IP address to connect).
>
> Thanks
>
>

Many routers support MAC filtering for WiFi. If yours does, use MAC
filtering to only allow PCs with the MACs corresponding to your desktop
and your GF's laptop to connect to the router.

And use WPA if you can, or else WEP.
--
Cheers, Bob