How do I protect my wifi signals from other people to have access to it?
343283
A reasonably good protection can be reached by defining WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access).\n\nWEP - short for Wired Equivalent Privacy, a security protocol for wireless local area networks (WLANs) defined in the 802.11b/g standard. WEP is designed to provide the same level of security as that of a wired LAN. LANs are inherently more secure than WLANs because LANs are somewhat protected by the physicalities of their structure, having some or all part of the network inside a building that can be protected from unauthorized access. WLANs, which are over radio waves, do not have the same physical structure and therefore are more vulnerable to tampering. WEP aims to provide security by encrypting data over radio waves so that it is protected as it is transmitted from one end point to another.\n\nWPA - short for Wi-Fi Protected Access, a Wi-Fi standard that was designed to improve upon the security features of WEP. The technology is designed to work with existing Wi-Fi products that have been enabled with WEP (i.e., as a software upgrade to existing hardware), but the technology includes two improvements over WEP: \n- Improved data encryption through the temporal key integrity protocol (TKIP). TKIP scrambles the keys using a hashing algorithm and, by adding an integrity-checking feature, ensures that the keys haven’t been tampered with. \n- User authentication, which is generally missing in WEP, through the extensible authentication protocol (EAP). WEP regulates access to a wireless network based on a computer’s hardware-specific MAC address, which is relatively simple to be sniffed out and stolen. EAP is built on a more secure public-key encryption system to ensure that only authorized network users can access the network.\n\nYou have now to check what of the two security protocols is supported on all your wireless clients. This is what you can get. It's not possible to run both security protocols at the same time.\nFurthermore i suggest to use MAC filtering. In the router setup program you will find it under the Tab "Wireless" and there you have to enter all MAC addresses of all wireless clients in your network. MAC addresses are printed on the sticker of every NIC (Network Interface Card).\nMost important is for sure you change your router password, so no other person can get access to it and change your settings.\nAnd finally to have running all fine, the SSID (Service Set Identifier) have to be the same on the router as well as in all wireless clients.\n\nHappy wireless networking ;-)
408270
You can if you do not take the neccessary steps to guard against hackers or internet theives.  You have to make sure you setup your WEP key when setting up any kind of wireless access.  This way the user will have to have the key to get on.  If you want to get more granular, then don;t broadcast and put in the connection for your laptop manually.  These are some ways to stop you from getting hacked.
524232
I use Zone Alarm for a firewall. It has an option to lock and unlock internet acess.\n\nhttp://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp
698270
If you changed the default admin password on the router and enabled encryption, thats a good start.\n\nYou could also set the router to only accept signals from your system by specifiying the MAC address of your NIC
1025157
You just were using a wirless network in your area.. which is illegal.. its owners just made a password for its access.. which you haven't
1091793
Scanning to use someone else's internet connection may not be technically illegal, but it certainly isn't fair.    They paid for their service and you should not steal part of it.   The scanning feature that came with your wireless card is meant to search for public access points (like at Starbuck's), where you pay a fee to use it for a while.\n\nMost of your neighbors probably use their own router software to restrict who can connect, so even if you see them you won't be able to connect.\n\nPlease think about what you are trying to do.  Thanks
187770
Use ISA Firewall Server and in there u can decide which user can access internet and which can't. ISA uses Actice Directiry user...
61193
After you log in to the administration console as listed by the other answers above (no need to repeat them), 3 items that you can do to protect your wireless router (all described in detail in your admin manual):\n1) Hide your SSID - if you don't broadcast your SSID, then most people won't even know that it is there\n2) Enable encryption - use WEP or whatever encryption your solution offers\n3) Bind to your MAC address - This means only your wireless machine can connect to the router. To find out your MAC address in windows, go to start>RUN, then type cmd, then type ipconfig /all. You will see an entry for 'Physical Address' that is your MAC address to enter into your admin screen.\n\nThese three items should sufficiently lock down your wireless setup.
851344
Have your own wireless Internet card for your laptop that ends company limiting access
408351
Yes, make a secure connection or use a program like Anonymizer that encrypts the wireless.
1050197
turn off your router, and when you can hear your neighbor swear then he's using your wireless connection ;-)))\n\nmore serious - most routers have an access led. when you close all your programs using the internet and the access led is still blinking, then your neighbor is using your wireless connection.\nlike others said, use WEP or WPA encryption and addional MAC filtering, then you can be sure no one will be able to use your wireless connection (that's how i've setup my wireless router).
718033
You may also want to make sure you are connecting to YOUR wireless network, not someone else's; Especially if you are living in or near an apartment complex or similar.
956030
i'm assuming you mean to use it without permission?\nyes there is, but it's not easy and can take a long long time to crack\ni would suggest the program wepcrack http://wepcrack.sourceforge.net/\nif your wireless card does not support packet injection this can take weeks, depending on how active the wlan is.\ngood luck ;)\nyou really should get permission first though, i live in a cluster of apartment buildings, and a lot of people were trying to get on my wireless network, so i setup a dummy network, and when people log on i steal their passwords and read their IM conversations, some say it's unethical, but they're on _my_ network without my permission and trying to use the network resources that i pay for with my hard earned money.  so just keep that in mind when you're on someone else's network.
963842
If you are talking about your personal connection at home, you dont scramble it as such... you need to encrypt the signals using the WEP encryption feature (if your router supports it).
218234
Maybe. The Best way to use this is with 'Mac Address Filtering', then nobody can access your network!
422080
Those are probably control packets from your provider that they use to determine your status. Unless someone else is connected to your cable or modem, they shouldn't be able to steal your bandwidth. A wi-fi network would allow people to access your connection if you haven't set the router to prevent unauthorized access.
1131188
From what i understand, the current federa (FCC) law does not include restrictions or responsibilities on which wireless networks a person may connect to.  Also, it would be almost impossible for a person to determine if he/she were connecting without authorization (aside from being denied acces which is the owners responsibility, not yours) since most cities now have many hot-spots where people are encouraged to connect.  I personally have a wireless network at my home and have disabled all security to my router.  If someone wants to connect then go right ahead.  I have heard however that in some areas the ISP's are cracking down and are systematically shutting down the accounts of people running open connections without the ISP's permission.  I haven't gotten the e-mail yet though so that's just heresay.