Do I Have To Broadcast my SSID?

People telling you should hide your SSID because of 'security' reasons are wrong: it's no more secure than broadcasting your SSID.

If you do broadcast your SSID however, neighbours will have less problems troubleshooting their wireless LAN.

Regards, Peter

Thank you guys! I'll digest all this and give it a shot! D

Taking a moment's reflection, D mused: | | If I don't, how do I tell my computers how/where to find the internet | connection?

You should do it in the setup of the clients. You would specify the SSID there. But, it's no more secure to hide your SSID than to broadcast it, and not broadcasting it can cause a host of connectivity issues as it is outside the specification.

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 08:21:55 -0700, D spoketh

if you don't broadcast you SSID, you need to manually create a preferred network profile on your wireless clients so they know what SSID to use to connect to the network. Just go to the Network Connections, select your wireless connection and go to the Wireless properties page, then click the "Add" button below the "Preferred networks" section.

Lars M. Hansen

Peter,

I've disabled broadcast ssid on my network for security reasons, it's one of the many recommendations to secure a wireless network. This is one of the many steps recommended by experts including the manufacturers of the networking hardware themselves.

I've heard a number of people like yourself say that I am wrong in thinking that this will make my network anymore secure. How can you say that when broadcasting your ssid allows any novice to see your wireless network when in range, inviting an intrusion?

This is like saying it makes no difference whether you lock your car or not. Certainly leaving the doors and windows open all the time will clearly increases the probability of trouble.

Rich

A couple of years ago, there were lots of articles on the web about disabling SSID for security. I don't think you'll find many recent articles pushing this point of view. Technically, it violates the standard, but not in a way that matters greatly. It's a feature that is tolerated in wifi certification, but definitely not required or recommended.

At best, it prevents people from accidentally connecting to your net, since they have to know your SSID in advance. There are several freeware packages that allow even novices with inexpensive off-the-shelf wifi cards to monitor and record every frame transmitted on a wifi network. The SSID is transmitted unencrypted every time a client associates, so the SSID is still there for all to see.

WEP or WPA are the only things that will hinder intruders from connecting to your net. And if you do not broadcast SSID - as someone else here pointed out - your neighbors are more likely to center their networks on the same channel, causing unnecessary interference. If they could see your network, they could avoid your channel.

Actually, I used to own a convertible. The top was cut open - on two different occasions - to gain access to the glove compartment. I finally wised up and started leaving the doors open when I parked it in public. I found the glove compartment open a few times, but I never kept anything valuable there.

I guess the moral is that the lock need only be as good as the door, and an unencrypted network is a wide-open door (even if you hide it at the end of an alley and hope that no-one notices it).

Taking a moment's reflection, Richard Mesagna mused: | | I've heard a number of people like yourself say that I am wrong in | thinking that this will make my network anymore secure. How can you say | that when broadcasting your ssid allows any novice to see your wireless | network when in range, inviting an intrusion?

First, if you are concerned about intrusion, you should not be running your network without WPA or WEP. The novice doesn't have the ability to crack WEP or WPA. So, it doesn't matter if they can see your SSID. So, let's assume someone who can crack WEP comes alone ... they are going to be able to see your SSID whether it's broadcast or not.

| This is like saying it makes no difference whether you lock your car or | not. Certainly leaving the doors and windows open all the time will | clearly increases the probability of trouble.

Your problem is in your analogy ... disabling SSID is not a lock. WEP and WPA are the locks. A better analogy would be parking your car in an alley because it keeps it from view of the general public who might steal it .... not knowing that the alley you parked it in is frequented by car thieves. Obviously, disabling SSID doesn't increase your risk, but it doesn't decrease it either, and could cause problems.

For example, I have four wireless networks in my area ... on of which is mine. I had it set up on channel 11 at first, and I didn't broadcast SSID. One day my throughput and connectivity went in the toilet. So, I started checking into things ... I set things up to sniff the neighbourhood, and found the two other networks. Both of them were on channel 11, and interfering with my network. I reset mine to channel 1, and started broadcasting SSID. Since then, no problems at all ... and a forth network has shown up ... on channel 11 as well.