Are there 'any' security (privacy) issues with an AP near your house?

Mar 31, 2012 4 Replies

My neighbor yesterday was approached by a WISP who asked to put a 2.4Ghz



802.11n access point very close to my property, pointed over my property.

I have no qualms about what they do - but that got me thinking.



QUESTION: If you have an access point very nearby ... does that allow them to 'see' your signals more easily?



That is, does that allow them to 'spy' on your activity, even though you are not connected to their access point?



Being closer to you makes it easier to pick up any signals you may be emitting. You would have to be pretty paranoid to assume that's what they actually want to do, however.

Would that work this way?

a) They log into their radio which is attached to their antenna. b) They lock onto any packets associated with your MAC address c) They store those packets and analyze later ...

I haven't used VPN yet.

Would that require an add on?

That depends on the type of VPN, and your router/firewall/network capabilities. I used to just use PPTP because it's built-in with Windows.

Today I'm using OpenVPN which is a third party software package because it's a ton more flexible and I need multiple VPN connections open (one to my internal network, one to work) and it's easier to work out the routing weirdness.

Not all routers can act as VPN endpoints though, but if you're paranoid about WPA2, you'll take this into account on the next one you buy/build.

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