Wifi Safety

[Rosie1]

Hi,

Forgive me if I raise this issue, as no doubt I'm sure it has been the point of countless discussions, concerning wifi safety.

I've been using a traditional ADSL 10/100 connection, but find that I now need to expand Internet use to two other computers. Life would be obviously so much easier if I could go wireless to facilitate this.

Can anyone recommend where I can research the latest findings regards wifi safety?

Many thanks. Much appreciated.

Rgds

Rosie

[greenbrucelee]

If this is for your home then is not the standard encryption of the IP addresses etc not ok for you?

[Rosie1]

Originally Posted by greenbrucelee

If this is for your home then is not the standard encryption of the IP addresses etc not ok for you?

Hi,

Thx for your response. Forgive me as I know little about this. Yes, it is for home - Are you referring to ICS or proxy?

Rgds

Rosie

[greenbrucelee]

You will have an SSID which will identify all of the PCs on the wireless network you can set this not to be broadcast this will be an option with the software you get whilst setting up the wireless network. (SSID must be the same on all PCs this is normally set by you)

You can then encrypt using WPA2 which should be an option with the network software, it was with mine, then obviousley you should have your standard firewall.

Thats as far as I know about wireless networking because thats how mine was set up but because I live in an area where there is bad signals I reverted back to a proper ADSL connection.

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by greenbrucelee

You will have an SSID which will identify all of the PCs on the wireless network you can set this not to be broadcast this will be an option with the software you get whilst setting up the wireless network. (SSID must be the same on all PCs this is normally set by you)

However, the SSID can still be "sniffed" out of the air, even with encryption turned on... the SSID is sent in clear text.

[greenbrucelee]

Originally Posted by BosonMichael

However, the SSID can still be "sniffed" out of the air, even with encryption turned on... the SSID is sent in clear text.

Using WPA2 should provide better security should it not? better than WEP anyhow.

[AJ]

Hi Rosie1

If you are talking about WiFi safety regarding radiation then perhaps the following will help.

This has now been Ok'd by Physics and Maths.

The maximum output of a 3com wireless access point is around 18 dBm

http://www.3com.com/other/pdfs/products/en_US/400881.pdf

The maximum output of mobile phones is 1 to 2 Watts

http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/understand/information_sheets/mobile_tel
ephony/mobile_phones.htm

Converting Watts to dBm using http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/dbm.php

the mobile is producing 30 to 33dBm

So the wireless access point is producing 3% of the power output of the
phone.( it's a logarithmic scale.)

Distance implications.

The energy is radiated from the device and dissipates by the inverse
square of the distance (as every pupil should know) so if you double the
distance from the source, the energy is reduced by a factor of 4. Mobile
phones are held at some 2 to 3 cm from the head. Whereas the wireless
access point is in a corridor (therefore it is transient) and are at
least .5M from a (passing) head.

The effect of distance is 1 / 2^2 and 1 / 50^2, so whereas the
electromagnetic (Em) flux (amount of energy crossing a unit of area per
second) from the phone is reduced by a quarter, the effective Em
radiation from the WAP is reduced by a factor of .0004 of the original
transmitted power.

Combining the two

The WAP is 3% of the power output of a phone. The distance effect of the
phone is to reduce the perceived energy by 4, and the WAP by *.0004.

So the total radiation perceived is .0016% of the mobile phone, put
another way it's a factor of over 600 times less.

I work in a private school and this very subject was quite a live wire a few months ago. The above was quoted from a Physics teacher after a certain Panorama prog.

Basically, you are more "at risk" from your mobile phone than wireless radiation.

[hbroomhall]

Having seen AJ's response - I have to ask "What do you mean by safety?".

Radiation hazard? In which case AJ debunks things nicely.

Break-in/encryption hazard? Then ditch WiFi and wire it.

Harry.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by hbroomhall

Having seen AJ's response - I have to ask "What do you mean by safety?".

Radiation hazard? In which case AJ debunks things nicely.

Break-in/encryption hazard? Then ditch WiFi and wire it.

Harry.

now now harry, anyone that paranoid would need to surround their home in copper wire otherwise I could just sniff the EM emissions from your monitor!

[hbroomhall]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

now now harry, anyone that paranoid would need to surround their home in copper wire otherwise I could just sniff the EM emissions from your monitor!

What about the tin-foil? <giggle>

Seriously - these days most in-town locations are overlapping badly. The throughput will decline, and opportunities for break-in will increase.

If you don't like cables(or the better-half is complaining) then look at Homeplug.

Harry.

[Rosie1]

Hi everyone,

thank you all so much for your responses.

Regards what aspect of safety - health risks and encryption. Technology moves along quickly and it's trying to keep up. Everybody has their own opinions and it's weighing up the balance.

In terms of 'war driving', if that's the correct term, I live in the countryside in a village location (not that it would completely rule out violation) so perhaps the risk may be minimal.

In terms of health safety, I've heard that some people suffer (member of my family complained of headaches when they had their wifi in use). Like anything new, I guess it may be that it hasn't been around long enough to get a true picture. However, where children are concerned, is it worth the risk?

Thank you again. I'll utilise your guidance. Very kind.

Rgds

Rosie

[C4sper]

just use common sense

that it WPA2 +Hide SSID +Mac filtering.

I know that all that can b broken but honestly - if someone want's ur internet that badly - let him

oh and btw - WiFi will NEVER be secure

[greenbrucelee]

Originally Posted by Rosie1

Hi everyone,

thank you all so much for your responses.

Regards what aspect of safety - health risks and encryption. Technology moves along quickly and it's trying to keep up. Everybody has their own opinions and it's weighing up the balance.

In terms of 'war driving', if that's the correct term, I live in the countryside in a village location (not that it would completely rule out violation) so perhaps the risk may be minimal.

In terms of health safety, I've heard that some people suffer (member of my family complained of headaches when they had their wifi in use). Like anything new, I guess it may be that it hasn't been around long enough to get a true picture. However, where children are concerned, is it worth the risk?

Thank you again. I'll utilise your guidance. Very kind.

Rgds

Rosie

I also live in the country side and because of poor Wi-Fi signals, must be the hills n stuff I went back to proper ADSL wired connection.

[grim]

do you already have the hardware or would a recommendation be your next question ?

if you already have the hardware let us know and we can advise the best way to secure it.

As said wireless will never be 100% secure there will always be a way to crack it. Your best bet would be WPA2 and MAC filtering, although i'm not to sure hiding the SSID will do much because it can easily be sniffed and it may cause you problems trying to connect to the access point. WEP is the most basic form of encryption which will keep people from wardriving your connection but only takes minutes to crack where as WPA and WPA2 takes much longer.

grim

[Rosie1]

Hi,

Thx all ever so much. No, haven't bought hardware yet; thought it best to page the oracle.

Haven't heard of Homeplug until now. Did a wee bit of sniffing on the Net, and spoke to a supplier, but may be biased, of course. I'm intrigued. Can anyone enlighten me as to how it compares to wifi in terms of efficiency and the other sub topics that we've covered. Does anybody on the forum utilise this?

Rgds to all, really appreciated.

Rosie