How to secure wifi?

[ggsail42]

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.

Completely agree with this post! However, if you pay for bandwidth for your wifi, that may be reason enough to want people off.

Windows and Macs and <insert whatever device you want here> are only as secure as the last time you patched.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by triibutu

Why weaken it? The sentence itself is a much stronger password and has a higher probability of being remembered.

If using a password manager anyway, the extra length doesn't matter.

You assume the device doesn’t just truncate to the first 8 characters

[StoneCrab]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

Yes, turn the computers off and unplug the wi-fi router and modem.

Agreed

I'd also consider removing the hard drive and putting it away for safe keeping. Depending on what's on it, a Bank Safety Deposit box wouldn't be unreasonable, given how much financial stuff finds it way onto our computers.

Hard drives are not hard to remove and replace. If you are cruising, you know how to use a screwdriver, so you're covered.

You have a greater chance of having your hardware stolen than your WiFi hacked. If the drive is in the machine, they have all the time in the world to break the password. It can often be done with downloaded software.