Unsecured router connected to secured router = insecure?

There's a lot of ridiculousness that led up to my decision to try to do
this but basically...my primary wireless router is my Netgear WGT624v3
which is plugged into my cable modem. Then I have a second wireless
router (Linksys Wireless-B BEFW11S4) connected to my Netgear from LAN
port to LAN port. The internet seems to work on both. My motivation
for doing this was that for whatever reason other people in my house
can't connect to any wireless networks that have security (or at least
WPA) set on them, but I definitely want WPA2-AES set on my wireless for
security. So my netgear is secured and the linksys is unsecured so that
both interests can access the same internet connection.

My main question is, does having the unsecured wireless router
connected to my secured wireless router compromise the security? If so
is there a way to isolate the linksys so that it doesn't compromise
security but can still access the internet?

Any info would be appreciated, thanks!

BTW, it's of no importance for any services like port forwarding or
anything to successfully work on the unsecured linksys router, just web
access.


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On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:38:49 -0500, voltage22
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>There's a lot of ridiculousness that led up to my decision to try to do
>this but basically...my primary wireless router is my Netgear WGT624v3
>which is plugged into my cable modem. Then I have a second wireless
>router (Linksys Wireless-B BEFW11S4) connected to my Netgear from LAN
>port to LAN port.

Hopefully you turned off the DHCP server in the BEFW11S4.

>The internet seems to work on both. My motivation
>for doing this was that for whatever reason other people in my house
>can't connect to any wireless networks that have security (or at least
>WPA) set on them, but I definitely want WPA2-AES set on my wireless for
>security. So my netgear is secured and the linksys is unsecured so that
>both interests can access the same internet connection.
>
>My main question is, does having the unsecured wireless router
>connected to my secured wireless router compromise the security?

Yes. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

>If so
>is there a way to isolate the linksys so that it doesn't compromise
>security but can still access the internet?

Depends on what you mean by security. Do you care if your wireless is
used to download kiddie porn and illicit music and video files, and run
spambots and DOSbots? When they come looking for the bad guys they're
going to find you.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

> My main question is, does having the unsecured wireless router
> connected to my secured wireless router compromise the security?

Security of what? Your house network? The other wifi network? Your
bandwidth? It's not just one question there.

> If so is there a way to isolate the linksys so that it doesn't compromise
> security but can still access the internet?

One idea would be to make sure the BEFW (piece of crap, BTW) is setup as a
router, with it's own NAT translation and DHCP. This way any clients on it
are not going to be 'directly' connected to the rest of the network. All
regular (web, email, etc) services will work fine.

I don't know if that Netgear is smart enough to allow setting up a VLAN or
other routing to isolate the BEFW network from the rest. It may not be.
You'd need that to completely prevent the BEFW devices from even getting a
route into the internal network.

> BTW, it's of no importance for any services like port forwarding or
> anything to successfully work on the unsecured linksys router, just web
> access.

That does make it easier, one less set of thing to configure.

If you 'needed to allow BEFW-connected devices to access your internal
network then you'd be able to do it with a VPN.

-Bill Kearney

voltage22 <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>My main question is, does having the unsecured wireless router
>connected to my secured wireless router compromise the security?

Look at it this way.... You have a house. It has a front door that
is properly locked and secured with all the technology of modern man.
You also have a back door that can be kicked in with little effort.
How secure is your house?

>If so
>is there a way to isolate the linksys so that it doesn't compromise
>security but can still access the internet?

The basic security problem is how to prevent someone from connecting
to your inside network. That's primarily the basic wireless security.
Some models of the BEFW11S4 will do WPA, while others will only do
WEP. If WPA, then it's good enough. If WEP, your security is
lacking.

You can pile on additional layers of security in the form of a VPN of
some sorts, but the level of complexity this introduces is far more
than just replacing the BEFW11S4 with something more modern.

>Any info would be appreciated, thanks!

My various BEFW11S4 v4 boxes were chronically hanging or going weird.
I do not consider this model to be very reliable.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558