Showcathupkuan,

Never, it’s wrong: 21%
No, I don’t trust them: 14%
Only when desperate: 36%
Occasionally: 21%
All the time: 0%
Not into wireless: 7%

for the Hamachi maybe next time I set up a home camera on my new house, i’ll have dell or HP home server. than i’ll install and try it out.

Cisco solution is way too complex (IPSec with a lot of sub-things AH, IKE etc etc)
PPTP - simplier, but less secure

Another way it SSL VPN’s, but ) I’ll send you info a bit later ) just have to find a hour or two to re-setup and sign an certificate for VPN access.

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for others - take a look at Hamachi , free zeroconf SSL-based VPN, can unite home , work PC, PCs of relatives and friends, no matter where. Suitable for remote administration, LAN gaming while not being in LAN, file and printer sharing. http://hamachi.cc <– its here.

And one more thing about routers - some new routers offer now WiFi protected Setup option (need support on router and connected device such as PDA etc) You push a button on router and activate same function on device, they exchange key - everything works and should be secure.

Just got back from weekend run away with staffs, brain relaxing!

Most of the open wireless access was setup by home users and they have very little knowledge of how the security worked. The vendor who sold them is very much lazy to spend that extra time to explain how the whole packages work as well. Users by nature treat wireless routers as PnP.

Cooperate company where I work for uses VPN on all their laptops, I bet most users don’t log on to VPN when there are in the public areas too. Simply due to the company blocked out the entire useful site that may be abuse by ignorant users. It’s a bummer!

Do we have good VPN software server to run on our server? I’m thinking of buying new laptop and worry free for my credit cards information that I transmit over the public WIFI access. Does Cisco provide free personal use version?

Hey thanks for your time on writing this very useful information.

There are a lot of stupid ppl that dont change or set passwords on their routers, wireless access or administrative router pass,
hackers and spammers would be quite happy of that.
As for wireless - its a subject for all neighbours to use link.
Its like leaving your home door open wide, with a carpet with WELCOME TO MY HOME, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT

)

Having firewall doesnt mean being protected as well, security measures must be complex, there are a lot of firewalls with permissive stock settings or an user puts firewall in learning mode and permits every action, which is recorded as a rule

> can he detect or aware that someone else is using his internet access illegally?
Yes, by decreased speed of his own link, by increased (possibly) prices for consumed traffic. Some routers show their connected “LAN clients”, some dont. If you connect via wireless - MAC of your card is shown in routers list of accociated wireless clients.
However, some people are just stupid and dont care about speed, traffic, whatever… and they never look at routers control panels.. since they had set it up once..

>Can he read & have access to any website that I opened?
No, but some routers do record access logs, while most other’s dont. Logs appear as URL’s, browser auth is stored in cookies,
routers dont intercept them and dont log.

Another thing (spreading in Europe) - hacker hotspots.
A hacker goes to public place (where open Wifi is likely available)
and sets up a free hotspot. People connect to that hotspot and use Internet. All traffic is intercepted and logged. Passwords (from unsecured communications) are extracted and are possibly used. Credit card info, bank logins, etc etc
Email access (POP3) is also submitting password as plain text.
FTP - plain text pass
Those who want real security while using public hotspots should use VPN tunnels or if unavailable - restrict private access to only SSL enabled (https://) sites. And dont let other applications submit passwords via open network.