borrowing WiFi...

[werldhed]

My gf just got a new laptop (I am quite jealous, tbh) and as expected, upon startup, she get's the "x wireless signals detected" or whatever the message is.
I've never been on wireless before, so my noob questions follow as such:

What's the deal with surfing ninja-style off of someone's router?
Are there extraneous risks? (the owner can check router logs for URL history, right?)
Can the owner detect it?
Should you take extra precautions against viruses, etc?
Or can can you "borrow" their signal without worries?

Basically, in your opinion, should it be done or not? I've heard rumors both that it is illegal and that it is not illegal. Which is it?

Also, is there a way to distinguish public WiFi signals from private?
...Thanks...

[Bacon]

If someone is careless enough not to protect thier wifi with some sort of password protection, I say start using it, the chance is if they are not smart enough to password protect it, they probably aren't intelligent enough to be able to track you, or find out you are using it.

Edit: and yes, private wi-fi connections will still be visible in the list, but they will be password protected (You will see a little lock icon)

Most private wi-fi networks are protected by a WEP key, some go beyond that and protect themselves further.

[bork[e]]

http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewto ... aling+wifi

nice read for what you're doing.

After doing a google search for "stealing wifi", a few come up with OMG someone has been thrown in Jail ect ect... but know it's not illegal to the best of my knowledge.

[werldhed]

http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9800&highlight=stealing+wifi

nice read for what you're doing.

After doing a google search for "stealing wifi", a few come up with OMG someone has been thrown in Jail ect ect... but know it's not illegal to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks bork[e].. I knew I read that thread somewhere, but I couldn't find it again. And yes, I did google the topic, but most said the same sort of ambiguous thing.

I'm not so much concerned with the ethical issue, as I am with whether I (she) should take any specific precautions to prevent problems. The owner of the router doesn't have any access to her computer, right?

[werldhed]

Edit: and yes, private wi-fi connections will still be visible in the list, but they will be password protected (You will see a little lock icon)

Most private wi-fi networks are protected by a WEP key, some go beyond that and protect themselves further.

Let me rephrase that question:
She's pretty close to her school, so there's a chance legit public free access WiFi signals might be available depending on where she is. So on the list of available WiFis, is there a way to determine which are meant for public use and which are just some dummy who forgot to protect his own signal?
(I'd check for myself, but she's in a different city than I am)

[Foo]

There was a heavily publicised case recently about a man who sat outside someone's house and accessed the internet via their open wireless access point.

He was sent to prison. However it's been mentioned that he was caught with child porn on the laptop he's using. That part I haven't confirmed.

I think that if you yourself own wireless kit, and it does not have a WEP key enabled, you could claim that you did not know you were on the other persons wireless.

Alternatively, you can take your chances with beleiving it was free access and assumed the owner intended it to be used.


Anyway, off the legal and onto the specifics:
Once you sucessfully connect to a wireless access point, your next problem is getting IP addresses. Fortunately, most people who would leave a WAP without protection would also leave a DHCP server running on their router. Set your PC to automatically request an IP address/gateway address and it should pick it up on its own. From that point you just start surfing.

If you dont get an IP address, they dont have an active DHCP server. In this case try setting your IP to one of the 3 local IP address ranges, 10.*.*.*, 192.168.*.*, and the other one I can never remember. Once you've got an IP address in that range, run and IP scanner to try and find their router and WAP addresses.

For added activity (you should probably do this before you begin to surf, you'll see why at the end of the paragraph) take the gateway IP that your PC picks up, and put it into a web browser. You will probably end up with the router's Web Configuration panel. Chances again are quite high that it's unpassworded, and even if it has one, I'll give you a default password list in a min. Once you're in the router's configuration you can check what ISP they're with and check what level of logging they're using. You can disable the logging and, crucially, if they've got a bandwidth cap on their connection you can check this and make sure not to run them up a huge bill.

Default password list here

[+JuggerNaut+]

Werdheld - if someone's dense enough to leave their connection open, surf away. I don't think I'd be running torrents off of it, but don't worry about clicking "connect".

[Tormentius]

Werdheld - if someone's dense enough to leave their connection open, surf away. I don't think I'd be running torrents off of it, but don't worry about clicking "connect".

:icon14: I agree. Its a person's own responsibility to secure their network, not everyone else's responsibility to ignore unsecured access.

[werldhed]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

So basically she can surf just like as if she was on her own connection?
(well, except for exceeding the "lender's" bandwidth, as Foo mentioned...)

[+JuggerNaut+]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

So basically she can surf just like as if she was on her own connection?
(well, except for exceeding the "lender's" bandwidth, as Foo mentioned...)

you said "surf", not download. i've no problem using someone's connection to surf/check mail, but raping their bandwidth is another mattery entirely.

[werldhed]

Yeah, I don't think she downloads much of anything other than powerpoints and other stuff from her classes, but she does that while on the school's network, so that doesn't matter.

Like I said, there really isn't any ethical issue I have a problem with, as long as there aren't risks. I would tell her to stop if I knew she was downloading excessively.

[+JuggerNaut+]

tell her JuggZ said it was "ok"