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Noob Question

HI all,

I have wireless and use WEP/DHCP. I let my neighbor have access and have given him the key. I never check my logs until tonight when I was having all kinds of issues. I was a little startled to see that in my router log it showed my IP address going to a certain site that I know my neighbor "likes" Let's leave it at that. I have no clue if my router was just reporting IPs wrong or if something else is up. Could DHCP cause this? Should I be monitoring this? How is it possible that my IP was shown going to this site? I have no spyware on my machine( I run bitdefender and a bunch of others). I hate to be the guy who watches his network but I am not certain how I should handle this.

Thanks

Reply to
freeman_inparis
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If your neighbor is using your router, you share the same WAN IP address

Reply to
RBM

His computer activity can not be easily distinguished from yours, as he is now part of your LAN. Therefore, everything he does on the 'net reflects on you. If his machine is compromised and becomes a spam proxy, then you are the responsible party, and you may have your internet access cancelled (or worse). If he downloads illegal material and gets traced, they will come after you, as the 'owner' of that IP address

I would not take this risk for a neighbor, but the choice is yours

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart Miller

use the "parental control"/"URL block" on the router if it has that capability to block the site he "likes". if he wants to bitch about it...change the keys on him?

Reply to
David Fairbrother

Thanks all for your follow up and advice. Next question, is it possible that my neighbor would have access to my pc through my wireless?

Reply to
freeman_inparis

That depends First you must enable file sharing on your computer - network settings Then you must enable specific folders to be shared Then you must share them with no password

If you do all three, then he has access, but only to the shared folders. Otherwise, no

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart Miller

Thanks Stuart, I am very grateful for the knowledge and am adjusting as needed.

Are you aware of any good tools I can run on my local machine(s) to make sure they are fairly secure? Any other good tools to protect my wireless other than the advice I might find readily on the net?

I am usually surprised to f> > Thanks all for your follow up and advice. Next question, is it

Reply to
freeman_inparis

Good security can be a major problem. For me, everything that needs to be secured lives on a linux file server, and I use a hardware firewall/router/hub setup for internet access, and a separate wireless router which I can unplug when not needed. The XP install, and several win98 installs here are considered 'disposable'. If these machines develop problems, or about once a year even if they don't, I reinstall. There is never any critical data on them. I have this machine set for multi-boot options -

- this install of xp

- experimental, test install of xp

- experimental install of win98

- linux

As for security tools, I have not needed to investigate them. I suggest you drop in on alt.computer.security or comp.security.firewalls and join the (often heated) discussions there.

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart Miller

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