You can learn a lot about a neighborhood from WiFi.

[rug]

[pintobean]

1. I tried to scroll down.

[pinboy3niner]

2. It only works if you're standing on one leg

Duh!

[pintobean]

6. I gave it my best

Still doesn't work.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. We had one here not too long ago that was called

stopstealingmyfuckingwireless

[Jenoch]

8. I wonder how someone could steal

a neighbor's wifi service? Ours has a 128 bit password. I don't know exactly what that means, but I know none of my neighbors could figure it out.

[Paulie]

14. what's the crypto? WEP, WPA/TKIP or WPA2/AES?

The first two are pretty easy to break, the first its trivial.

[Jenoch]

16. It's WEP.

Is there software that easily breaks the code? The password we have is 26 characters, letters (upper and lower) and numbers. I suppose someone could break it, but I don't know why they would make the attempt.

[Paulie]

17. WEP has been broken for about a decade

It was designed poorly. If your wireless supports it you should be on WPA2 or a minimum of WPA.

Here's a short video on how its done. There are longer ones showing better detail. But everything done on this persons PC can be done with an Android phone.

&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Jenoch]

19. We got a new wireless router in April 2012.

Is that new enough for WPA2? If so, how do I make the change? I suppose I could Goggle it, but you seem to know your stuff.

A couple years ago our router went kaput and I usd our neighbors wifi for about a month. They are the ones without broadcasting their wifi now. They must have tech savvy grandchildren. I was hoping one of my kids or nephews would be a computer nerd, but I seem to know more than they do. I used to know everything about the system of pre-OSX Macs, not so much now.

[Locut0s]

20. Yes 2012 should definitely have WPA2...

Every router is set up differently so it's not possible to give step by step instructions in general. However there should be a wireless security tab or page etc in your routers setup. Usually it's a simple drop down box asking what type of encryption you want to use WEP through various types of WPA and WPA2. Chose WPA2 TKIP or AES (preferably AES if all your devises support it!) and choose a strong pass key. Of course all your devices have to support WPA2 as well. There may be a WPA/WPA2 option if some of your devices support WPA and not WPA2.

Actually turning off broadcasting of the SSID doesn't really give you much security. At best it prevents people from casually seeing the name of your wifi hotspot. But a hacker can still easily find your router even with SSID broadcasting turned off.

If you can try to use WPA2. As mentioned by Paulie WPA and especially WEP have been hacked for some time now. WEP is trivially easy to crack, WPA takes some hardware resources but it can be broken too. Breaking WPA2 doesn't yet seem quite practical, though I'm sure that will begin to change given the insane hardware now available in modern high end GPUs.

[Jenoch]

23. Are you Borg?

I have more or less decided not to worry about the security of our wireless network. The odds of our wifi being targeted are slim enough for me to disregard the danger.

[Locut0s]

26. Resistance is futile :P It depends on how paranoid you are ;)...

I agree with you that the odds of you being targeted are probably very slim. People who are paranoid about this kind of thing seem to forget that wireless security is bounded to the range of your wireless signal, we are talking 30 to 100ft. However there are some good reasons to secure it. If you work for a large corporation such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, or a major bank then you potentially become a target for corporate espionage. The same goes for working for a politician or some other areas of government. If you live on the bottom floor apartment right next to a busy downtown street then you are exposing your router signal to a lot of traffic, it's still unlikely that anyone would be interested in hacking in (with the above exceptions), but it's also a numbers game. For the rest of us it's not very likely we would be targeted.

Of much more importance are other security measures such as using a firewall, using strong passwords for you online banking and other sites, and more. It's much more likely that these kinds of things will get you into trouble then your router security.

Or if you are a nerd like me you just like securing it for the fun of it

[NightWatcher]

4. don't broadcast your network and secure that mofo

[Jenoch]

11. Ok, I'm not the most computer savvy person there is,

but how can I have wi-fi at home without 'broadcasting' the signal?

[NightWatcher]

12. It's a setting. You just don't publicly show your network

You still access it but no one will see it when they search your neighborhood.

[Jenoch]

13. I have a WEP key, is that good enough?

I never ran across a settting to hide the name of our network when I set it up. I think I have a neighbor who must have had someone set up her wifi in that way. I used to see her network, I know she's still online, but I don't see it anymore.

[Locut0s]

22. Actually as I was saying above turning off broadcasting doesn't provide much security....

It prevents your neighbours from seeing the name of your router but a hacker can still easily find it. The choice to use WPA2/AES is what makes the true difference.

[SeattleVet]

5. If you *do* broadcast your network ID, be creative...

Something like "NSA Monitoring Van #12" should be good.

[Jenoch]

15. I saw one once that was called

"pus infected bloody virus".

[panader0]

7. Can I use "BigBootyJudy" as a song title?

[pinboy3niner]

9. No

That would be SO derivative, even apart from the wifi user.

[Vashta Nerada]

10. I'm more intrigued by "BigBootyJudy".

[hibbing]

18. San Francisco

That's pretty funny. I was in San Francisco and there certainly were some interesting ones listed there, as I am sure there are everywhere.

Peace

[BainsBane]

21. If I can figure out how to reset my wifi

so I can use the router again, I'll have to come up with a more creative name. Fuck Big Booty Judy's Flamingos comes to mind, but that would be derivative.

[Locut0s]

24. The SSID name should be fairly easy to change in the router setup....

It should be in the general wireless section of your routers setup. Though every router varies a bit.

[BainsBane]

25. Here's the deal

I was trying to reset the network key on the Belkin page and I managed to lock myself out of the router. I've tried resetting it using the pin hole on the back of the router, yet I can't get it to reset. Now I have to use an ethernet cable to get online.

I don't know what a SSID name is. I can't access the router at all from my computer. The message I get says the settings on the computer do not match the requirements of the network.

[Locut0s]

27. It sounds like you may have inadvertently changed your routers IP address...

Your router will be assigned an IP address by your service provided, this you can't change. But it also uses it's own range of IP addresses to address the computers connected directly to it, this forms a local area network. It's possible to change the IP address of the router without realizing it. If this happens you will have no way accessing the router. Though the reset you performed by the pin hole method should have set it back to factory defaults. Most routers use some variation on 192.168.0.1 or an address similar to this. If you type the correct address into your browsers address bar you will be asked to log into your router, you will need the correct login and password.

Do you have the exact model of your router? I may be able to find its factory default IP address, login and password.

[BainsBane]

29. I don't think it has reset

Nothing happens when I put a pin in the hole and hold it down.

Thanks for offering to help. My router is a Belkin G, model F5D7234-4 V5

[Locut0s]

30. Try this....

It seems the default IP should be 192.168.2.1

Type that into the address bar of your web browser, assuming you are connected to it through a LAN cable, not wirelessly.

If things are working you should see the routers web interface. From there it may ask you for a password. It seems Belkin defaults to no password / blank by default which mean you can just click submit or ok upon being asked.

[Raine1967]

28. flocking gone bad.

http://mvcspta.org/youve-been-flocked/

[JesterCS]

31. Mine is called " Get of My LAwN "

the capital L-A-N being for Local Area Network =P. I know, cheesy, but makes me laugh

[JNelson6563]

32. Good one!

My son changes ours from time to time. we are in an apartment building and many have "Netgear1962" or a different year but Netgear's in all of them. My son re-named ours "NetgearIsForDaWeak" because he is a smart-ass.

Julie

[Packerowner740]

33. Mine is named

You can't use this one

[Orrex]

34. Can't see that image, but my router is called NSA Surveillance Drone.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

35. All but two networks around me are using unimaginative names

Things like:
Home101
2WIRE217
2WIRE389
...
2WIRE###
It is like they are all part Borg


I'm sure everyone on the block would love to get on mine. I named it ASGARD
As in the home of the Gods


The only other 'original' one is Rippy's WiFi