How to secure wifi?

[jim King]

how about using a VPN?

[Topanga]

Change your routers SSID and then turn off broadcasting it. To connect to the network, you then need to know the SSID (which won't be visible to anyone) as well as your password. https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/c...ssid-broadcast

[Anders]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

sure, with a password

no big bad computer hacker is looking at hacking a boat wifi

Big bad computer hackers would love to use your computer either to hide their tracks or as part of a botnet.

[alctel]

Lot of bad info in this thread.

Are you talking about onboard boat wifi? Anyone who decides to 'hack' your wifi needs to do it from within wifi range (which is NOT far). This means someone is going to have to sit outside your boat with a laptop for however long it takes, which is ridiculous in a marina and even more ridiculous out at anchor.

And as others have pointed out, why would anyone even bother - wifi hacking is a low priority target for people even outside the range limitations, as even if you get in, all it means is you are on the same network as someone else and hoping they have machines that are a) completely unprotected by software protection and have filesharing etc turned on and b) has stuff like mybankinfo.txt sat around on the desktop. If you are worried about this, don't ever connect to a public wifi spot...

There are far far FAR easier ways to get information from people's machines that don't involve sitting around in a dinghy for hours next to someone's boat, and any machine connected to the internet is a far bigger risk.

Unless you think someone is personally targeting you and is willing to do the above, make sure you have a basic password on there and then forget about it.

Oh, and Windows machines are absolutely fine to use. The 'macs can't get viruses!' trope hasn't been true for years now.

[Anders]

Google cantenna. I've connected to a Wi-Fi over a mile away.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Topanga

Change your routers SSID and then turn off broadcasting it. To connect to the network, you then need to know the SSID (which won't be visible to anyone) as well as your password. https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/c...ssid-broadcast

Hmmm think so?

https://ethicalhackingblog.com/uncovering-hidden-ssids/

[thursday]

Originally Posted by alctel

And as others have pointed out, why would anyone even bother - wifi hacking is a low priority target for people even outside the range limitations, as even if you get in, all it means is you are on the same network as someone else and hoping they have machines that are a) completely unprotected by software protection and have filesharing etc turned on and b) has stuff like mybankinfo.txt sat around on the desktop. If you are worried about this, don't ever connect to a public wifi spot...

The probability of someone hacking a random boater is pretty low but I think it's best to take security seriously at all layers. People do things for weird reasons.

[thomm225]

His question was:

Is there a way to secure your home dives and network when you are out cruising to get rid of hacking attempts?

Nothing to do with Wi-Fi on the boat.

[BrightSEALAB]

Originally Posted by kali_kishte

Is there a way to secure your home dives and network when you are out cruising to get rid of hacking attempts? The way/method/app/technique should not be for a techie person.
TIA

So you want your computers at home to stay on but also be protected while you are away for extended time cruising?

Other posts about using a strong password is fine but the goal is to remove as many doors into that system as possible before you put stronger locks on the remaining doors.

A good way to do that is to give yourself a special door into your home network, a tunnel in fact. Look into GL inet's line of travel and home network equipment. The Mango is a $28 widget that sits between your home broadband modem and your home internet wifi router (if your broadband modem IS your home network router... fix that).

Mango runs an opensource router software that's easy to set up and manage and has a great online community available to help set it up. In particular, what you can set up is a VPN Server.

Now you can set up your devices on the boat to connect to your home network through VPN client settings, or even better, get another Mango or a Slate or Beryle to manage the network on the boat. Then you can set up that device as a VPN client and all of the devices on the boat will operate seamlessly as if they were connected to your network back home.

It sounds way more complex than it actually is and it works much better than other options. And... the security difference between tunneling into your home network versus logging in to various services (like checking security cams or home automations devices) is immeasurable.

[Be Free]

Originally Posted by kali_kishte

Is there a way to secure your home dives and network when you are out cruising to get rid of hacking attempts? The way/method/app/technique should not be for a techie person.
TIA

This thread has drifted all over the place. Perhaps the OP can clarify the original question.


To the OP:


Are you trying to secure your "home drives and network" from hacking inside your house, from outside, or both? (Perhaps they rent their house out while cruising)



Do you require access to your "home drives and network" while you are away?

[JBsurfin]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Passwords are pretty easy to break if a hacker wants to break one.

They can use a Brute Force Attack or Rainbow Table Attack which is why most companies use a two factor log in.

Turning your systems off though will do the job.

A 8 character password inclusive of symbols, caps, and small letters would take a brute force attack over 8 years of constant attempts, and that's not with them losing the connection and starting all over.

[Tillikum]

1. Your router's security [probably] stinks.
2. There are [very] secure routers.
3. If they get past the firewalls, you can prevent your system being [permanently] infected.

In the case of item 3, you first need a completely clean system and for that you need a new HD or this as any infections will be perpetuated otherwise,

Best practice is no internet connections before initial "freeze" and none when not subsequently "frozen".

MS could easily have incorporated such features in Windoze, but they chose not to.

[JimStarkey]

There really isn't any way to secure WiFi. WiFi is intrinsically exposed to what's called a man-in-middle attack where you think you are logging onto a safe hotspot but are, in fact, connecting to a hacker broadcasting the same SSID. Use only sites with HTTPS for end to end encryption, which is always safe. The use a firewall on your pc/laptop to block all incoming connections and you'll be fine if your don't do something really stupid.

[cowlum]

Originally Posted by alctel

Lot of bad info in this thread.

Are you talking about onboard boat wifi? Anyone who decides to 'hack' your wifi needs to do it from within wifi range (which is NOT far). This means someone is going to have to sit outside your boat with a laptop for however long it takes, which is ridiculous in a marina and even more ridiculous out at anchor.

And as others have pointed out, why would anyone even bother - wifi hacking is a low priority target for people even outside the range limitations, as even if you get in, all it means is you are on the same network as someone else and hoping they have machines that are a) completely unprotected by software protection and have filesharing etc turned on and b) has stuff like mybankinfo.txt sat around on the desktop. If you are worried about this, don't ever connect to a public wifi spot...

There are far far FAR easier ways to get information from people's machines that don't involve sitting around in a dinghy for hours next to someone's boat, and any machine connected to the internet is a far bigger risk.

Unless you think someone is personally targeting you and is willing to do the above, make sure you have a basic password on there and then forget about it.

Oh, and Windows machines are absolutely fine to use. The 'macs can't get viruses!' trope hasn't been true for years now.

This guy is right.

Worrying about every detail in security on boat wifi network is overly paranoid.

If you'd happily connect to your work network with your equipment then your boat network is the least of your worries.

This thread really depends on what the OP is trying to achieve or what he's trying to hide. If he's a live aboard or works from his boat over the intenet then sure, there's lots to think about. That said, most boats just pump nmea data around and have no internet connection. In this case I'd even happily run an open network because its usually only running when I'm underway.

My advice: set an 8 character password following basic recommendations and move on.

[and4ew]

A couple of things to add, regardless of whether the OP is talking about their home network or boat:
- If you can, hardwire rather than than use wifi. That said, as wisely noted by someone above, you'd want to add your own router with a built-in firewall between the internet service provider's modem and your stuff. As someone else pointed out, these aren't hard to install and configure, even for a novice.
- Never leave your backup device connected to anything. If you get hit by ransomware you'll have something to fall back on. Some people keep their backup device always connected to make it easier to do scheduled backups. What's easier in this case is also riskier.
- There is lots of conflicting info about hacking long passwords and it's true that more characters means it takes longer but keep in mind that hackers aren't going after just you, they're going after a lot of people so it's a bit of a lottery. As someone else pointed out, you're most likely to be "hacked" by someone discovering your password by other means than brute force attack.

If you're curious about how much info is being gathered about wifi networks check out wigle.net.