A way to see who uses my WLAN?

[David Prahl]

Is there some log or utility on my Dell Truemobile 1180 router/switch that can display what MAC addresses or IP addresses have accessed it? I can see who is currently using the WLAN, but I'd like to be able to know who has been.

(I want to make sure no spammers are driving by at 2:00am!) :wink:

PPC '03 is almost here! Yay!
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[ctmagnus]

Is there some log or utility on my Dell Truemobile 1180 router/switch that can display what MAC addresses or IP addresses have accessed it? I can see who is currently using the WLAN, but I'd like to be able to know who has been.

(I want to make sure no spammers are driving by at 2:00am!) :wink:

There's no logging mechanism? Odd. Does it use a web-based setup utility?

PPC '03 is almost here! Yay!
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I concur. :mrgreen:

btw, it's

and in the darkness, bind THEM!

It doesn't rhyme otherwise. :wink:

[David Prahl]

Well a PPC shouldn't "bind" people - "unite" is more upbeat and proud!

Yes, it is web-based. I can see who is ON the WLAN, and see past "intrusions", but not a complete list of past visitors.

If the router knows its an "intrusion", why doesn't it block it?

[ctmagnus]

Linksys products have an option to send the router's log to a user-specified IP. Dunno about the Dell routers though. Can you not filter by mac address?

The three things I recommend for every single with no exceptions are:

1) Enable MAC filtering. Allow only the MACs of your machines and any others that you want to be able to access the AP.

2) When you know that some (or all) of the machines can access the AP with MAC filtering enabled, disable the SSID broadcast on the AP. This will keep the wee punks using only Netstumbler out of your AP.

3) Enable WEP an the AP and all clients that you want to allow to access the AP. This can be a bit of a pain but it's worth it to keep he 5|<R1p+ |<1|)|)135 out.

and

4) Any reasonable efforts to prevent bandwidth theft, drive-by hacking, etc that the manufacturer of your AP has provided: USE THEM. If your AP and client cards are all from the same manufacturer and are of reasonably the same vintage, this should not be an issue.


If you have implemented all of the above you're probably reasonably safe, unless you have data constantly flowing over your wireless 24/7. In that case it's possible someone could get enough good packets in 8 hrs (iirc) to break your wep key. But as for drive-by spamming, that won't be much of a possibility as long as you've taken reasonable mesures to secure your wireless.

[PetiteFlower]

This may be terribly naieve but shouldn't WEP be enough to keep out 99% of people? MAC filtering seems like a terrible pain and I'm afraid of messing with my network any more since it WORKS now!

[ctmagnus]

This may be terribly naieve but shouldn't WEP be enough to keep out 99% of people? MAC filtering seems like a terrible pain and I'm afraid of messing with my network any more since it WORKS now!

True, but MAC filtering goes one step further. And in my experience, it's easier to set up. And if you know the macs of all clients that will be connecting, you only have to enter them into one location.

There's also the issue that macs can be sniffed and spoofed, so wep is better than mac filtering if you only implement one of them. But definately disbale SSID broadcasting.

[Pony99CA]

Is there some log or utility on my Dell Truemobile 1180 router/switch that can display what MAC addresses or IP addresses have accessed it? I can see who is currently using the WLAN, but I'd like to be able to know who has been.

(I want to make sure no spammers are driving by at 2:00am!) :wink:

I find it ironic that Mr. War Cycler (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13839&start=2) doesn't want people snooping his wireless LAN. :-D

Steve

[Pony99CA]

But definately disbale SSID broadcasting.
Sadly, not all access points allow that. My SMC Barricade 7004AWBR doesn't.

Steve

[ctmagnus]

But definately disbale SSID broadcasting.
Sadly, not all access points allow that. My SMC Barricade 7004AWBR doesn't.

Steve

Sucks that the older stuff gets, more rarely are firmware updates released.

[David Prahl]

:) I didn't enter any of the WLANS I found!

I just want to stop "bad nerds" - the "good nerds" can use my connection. :mrgreen: