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Hi all,

An interesting conversation occured today at work between myself and two
colleagues regarding how many unsecured wireless networks can be 'hopped'
onto in our neighbourhood.

I'm still cabled at the moment, but my two work colleagues both have
wireless networks at their homes.

At one point, one of my colleagues said that if someone were to join a
neighbouring unsecured wireless network, say a house two or three plots
down, that would in turn allow *them* (the unsecured network owner/s) to
basically have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too.

Is this true ?

I really don't know much about wireless security but I did mention that if
the intruding computer was firewalled properly, might that prevent any new
connections being established to the 'intruding' computer ?

My Googling has only turned up various interesting (and scary) stories of
unauthorised wireless access, but I haven't found any answers to my specific
question posed here.

If anyone can throw me a clue or two I would be most grateful.

Regards,

BH.

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:48:59 +0000, Benson Hedges wrote: [snip]
> At one point, one of my colleagues said that if someone were to join a
> neighbouring unsecured wireless network, say a house two or three plots
> down, that would in turn allow *them* (the unsecured network owner/s) to
> basically have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too.
>
> Is this true ?
[snip]

Yes, depending on what security you have installed and setup on your
computer. Once you connect to THEIR network you are as reachable as any
other computer on their network. If you have file/printer sharing enabled
and not blocked by a firewall and don't use a password, they can get into
your computer....


--
Leythos
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
(remove 999 for proper email address)

On 2007-04-25, Benson Hedges <> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> An interesting conversation occured today at work between myself and two
> colleagues regarding how many unsecured wireless networks can be 'hopped'
> onto in our neighbourhood.
>
> I'm still cabled at the moment, but my two work colleagues both have
> wireless networks at their homes.
>
> At one point, one of my colleagues said that if someone were to join a
> neighbouring unsecured wireless network, say a house two or three plots
> down, that would in turn allow *them* (the unsecured network owner/s) to
> basically have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too.
>
> Is this true ?

Attempting to answer my own question here; the intruding computer could be
accessible if it was a Microsoft Windows box with drives shared through the
'File And Printer' service (server) and was not properly firewalled ?

Regards,

BH.

Benson Hedges <> writes:

>Hi all,

>An interesting conversation occured today at work between myself and two
>colleagues regarding how many unsecured wireless networks can be 'hopped'
>onto in our neighbourhood.

>I'm still cabled at the moment, but my two work colleagues both have
>wireless networks at their homes.

>At one point, one of my colleagues said that if someone were to join a
>neighbouring unsecured wireless network, say a house two or three plots
>down, that would in turn allow *them* (the unsecured network owner/s) to
>basically have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too.

Your collegue is wrong. All that that the joining does is to make your
computer part of their network. If you are on cable modem, you are already
part of a huge network. Then the other side still has to get into your
computer. Of course if you are running wide open windows, what he says may
be true-- eg you export your files etc to your Neighborhood, then yes they
will be able to see them.


>Is this true ?

>I really don't know much about wireless security but I did mention that if
>the intruding computer was firewalled properly, might that prevent any new
>connections being established to the 'intruding' computer ?

>My Googling has only turned up various interesting (and scary) stories of
>unauthorised wireless access, but I haven't found any answers to my specific
>question posed here.

>If anyone can throw me a clue or two I would be most grateful.

>Regards,

>BH.

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:43:28 +0000, Unruh wrote:
>
> Your collegue is wrong. All that that the joining does is to make your
> computer part of their network.

And that's what he was asking about - the network you join can access your
computers resources unless they are protected. In the case of most Windows
computers, without a firewall, the default is to let file/printer sharing
work across the local network (which is the wireless one also)....

So, if he connects to his neighbors wireless, his neighbor will see his
computer as another computer on his network, access is up to the computer
security setup.

--
Leythos
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
(remove 999 for proper email address)

On 2007-04-25, Leythos <> wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:48:59 +0000, Benson Hedges wrote: [snip]
>> At one point, one of my colleagues said that if someone were to join a
>> neighbouring unsecured wireless network, say a house two or three plots
>> down, that would in turn allow *them* (the unsecured network owner/s) to
>> basically have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too.
>>
>> Is this true ?
> [snip]
>
> Yes, depending on what security you have installed and setup on your
> computer. Once you connect to THEIR network you are as reachable as any
> other computer on their network. If you have file/printer sharing enabled
> and not blocked by a firewall and don't use a password, they can get into
> your computer....

Thanks very much for that Leythos, much appreciated.

Regards,

BH.

On 2007-04-25, Unruh <unruh-> wrote:
> Benson Hedges <> writes:
>
>>Hi all,
>
>>An interesting conversation occured today at work between myself and two
>>colleagues regarding how many unsecured wireless networks can be 'hopped'
>>onto in our neighbourhood.
>
>>I'm still cabled at the moment, but my two work colleagues both have
>>wireless networks at their homes.
>
>>At one point, one of my colleagues said that if someone were to join a
>>neighbouring unsecured wireless network, say a house two or three plots
>>down, that would in turn allow *them* (the unsecured network owner/s) to
>>basically have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too.
>
> Your collegue is wrong. All that that the joining does is to make your
> computer part of their network. If you are on cable modem, you are already
> part of a huge network. Then the other side still has to get into your
> computer. Of course if you are running wide open windows, what he says may
> be true-- eg you export your files etc to your Neighborhood, then yes they
> will be able to see them.

You (two) have provided me with a sanity check. The conversation I
referred to in my original post occurred at an ungodly hour before
sufficient caffeine had been consumed. I knew it wasn't a blanket case of
'join an unsecured wi-fi network, and give up your hard drive's contents no
matter what', but was unable to articulate my argument successfully at the
time. (If that makes any sense at all).

Thanks to yourself and Leythos.

Regards,

BH.

Leythos <> writes:

>On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:43:28 +0000, Unruh wrote:
>>
>> Your collegue is wrong. All that that the joining does is to make your
>> computer part of their network.

>And that's what he was asking about - the network you join can access your
>computers resources unless they are protected. In the case of most Windows
>computers, without a firewall, the default is to let file/printer sharing
>work across the local network (which is the wireless one also)....

>So, if he connects to his neighbors wireless, his neighbor will see his
>computer as another computer on his network, access is up to the computer
>security setup.


Let me quote what I was answering which you snipped.
*****************************************
>At one point, one of my colleagues said that if someone were to join a
>neighbouring unsecured wireless network, say a house two or three plots
>down, that would in turn allow *them* (the unsecured network owner/s) to
>basically have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too.
***********************************************

That statement is simply wrong. IF you set up your computer incompetently
then, as with any computer connected to any network, this may allow others
access. But the very fact of your connecting to the outer network does not,
in and of itself "have complete access to the 'intruding' computer too".

Your position is like saying that if I hook my computer up to the net via a
modem, anyone in the world can therefor access my computer. They cannot. My
computer has more safeguards than that.

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 22:00:12 GMT, Benson Hedges <>
wrote:

<snip>

When you are conntected to the internet, if you have things open
they others can look at them. Its the same for ADSL, Cable and
WiFi except that with an open wifi network a third party can view
the traffic easier.

Using a VPN connection over foreign wifi provides a good level of
protection.
--
Jim Watt
http://www.gibnet.com

On Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:12:08 +0000, Unruh wrote:
>
> Your position is like saying that if I hook my computer up to the net
> via a modem, anyone in the world can therefor access my computer. They
> cannot. My computer has more safeguards than that.

The OP didn't say what safe measures he had in place, we don't know. So,
the fact is that the remote network people (their LAN) would have access
to his computer directly. What services and resources is based on how
locked down his computer is, which is what we don't know.

--
Leythos
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
(remove 999 for proper email address)