Personally, I feel that so long as basic precautions are taken, most people are not going to take the time to try and bypass these preventive measures just to hack your network. Well, unless you are already a target.

Remember when talking on the phone meant being tied to a confined area by a cord? Many members of the younger generation don’t; cordless landlines and cellular/mobile phones have always been a part of their lives. Most of those reading this, though, can still remember when setting up a home or business network required running Ethernet cabling throughout the building (or paying someone else to do it). Those who have actually spent time crawling through attics to drop cable can fully appreciate the miracle of wireless networking technology. No wonder the popularity of 802.11 wireless equipment has boomed in the last few years. For convenience, you can’t beat it. But what about security?

Some people will tell you that wireless networking is inherently less secure than wired communications, and that’s true. To “tap into” your cabled network, an intruder has to have physical access to that line. Because common wireless networking technologies are RF (radio frequency) based and send signals over the airwaves, an intruder can sit in a car with a laptop down the street from your location and “catch” your transmissions. Many wireless users think they’re safe because of the distance limitations referenced in the documentation of their wireless access pointers or routers: approximately 300 feet for 802.11b/g, about half that for 802.11a. What they don’t tell you is that a “war driver” can increase that range by attaching a powerful directional antenna to the wireless network adapter on his laptop. [Read the rest]