• Life Advice & Visual Arts Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    🌌 Share Your Dreams! 🌌
    📸 15 Years of Photo Contests 📸
  • LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

"Stealing" My Neighbor's Wireless Internet Connection

9mmCensor said:
Because monitoring packets only provides information about what is being sent over the network. There is much more information such as text files being written, etc., that are not sent via the network.
Click to expand...

Packet monitoring is the only possible security breach in a wifi-router to client situation. forgotten is correct in saying that you are depending on variables that may not exist. In such a case, a keylogger could be potentially placed on any given computer, wirelessly connected or not. It is not situationally dependent, as wifi is not special in allowing easier access to software vulnerabilities through networking.

Sure, wifi reveals your IP when connected to the same network, but this will not open the machine for easier attacks/exploits. Sure, packets of incoming and outgoing connections are partially revealed, but that is really the extent of it. You do not broadcast administrative privileges in such a network.
 
StagnantReaction said:
Packet monitoring is the only possible security breach in a wifi-router to client situation. forgotten is correct in saying that you are depending on variables that may not exist. In such a case, a keylogger could be potentially placed on any given computer, wirelessly connected or not. It is not situationally dependent, as wifi is not special in allowing easier access to software vulnerabilities through networking.

Sure, wifi reveals your IP when connected to the same network, but this will not open the machine for easier attacks/exploits. Sure, packets of incoming and outgoing connections are partially revealed, but that is really the extent of it. You do not broadcast administrative privileges in such a network.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

I am not stating that if your on someones wireless network the network admin can immediately and easily monitor your keystrokes. Because thats not true.

But if a computer is connected to a network, there is the possibility for it to be compromised. Thus anyone who is security vigilant, will have to be wary of such a security risk.
 
^^ Yes, but why bring that up in this subject? "if a computer is connected to a network, there is a possibility for it to be compromised"... does this even need to be mentioned? If there is no added risk for connecting to a wireless network as opposed to a hardwired one, why bother stating the obvious?

The only added flaw in connecting to someone else's network is that they can see your IP & MAC addresses, and monitor any packets you are exchanging on their network. Yes, they can attack you and exploit security flaws in your software packages, but so could anyone obtaining your IP over the internet.
 
StagnantReaction said:
why bother stating the obvious?
Click to expand...
Because what is obvious to some, is not to others, proof of such is the existence of this thread.
 
You aren't addressing the pertinent risks that should be made obvious, however. Those would specifically be IP, MAC, and packet monitoring by the router administrator and connected clients. But this does not make connection client any more susceptible to malicious exploitation. A connected client is as safe as any user of the internet, setting aside the obscured individual IP.

If we're stating the obvious, then let's just remind everyone to update their Windows (or not use it), keep up a firewall, patch any other security holes, and use an anti-virus.
 
forgotten said:
A keylogger can't be installed on a client that is merely connected to a network. Your logic is riding on variables that may or may not be present.
Click to expand...

Sorry dude, but I gotta quote you and argue the point. When there is connections to a network, you can easily find open ports to submit malicious requests through, alongside possible malicious code. Sure there are times when nothing is fucking possible, like when the ethernet cable is unplugged. But when theres a connection, and theres a will, theres a way.

Trust me, no secure network is as secure as you may think. Exploitation is possible from low level all the way to high level client programming. You can exploit the firmware of a router, hell even the fucking cabel modem, if you really wanted to. Its just a matter of a little time, a little energy, a bit of intelligence.

I hate seeing myself as a nerd for my previous involvements in such "counter-productive" behavior, taking something that works, and forcing it to not work for others. But you learn from your past to influence other's futures.

In short if you wanted to start tracking down every bit of information from another connected computer on your network:

- Setup a way to log and retrieve data from all packets being sent and recieved.
- Use packet information for retrieving personal security information ie: passwords, logins, etc.
- If packet logging yields sparse results, real-time packet modification schemes can be executed to modify the resulting incoming and outgoing packets, the flow, and transfer, and the ability to exploit the low-security of the connections between computers inside the same network.

You can easily implant a trojan on a networked computer, and exploiting the vulnerabilities that lie within a home consumer network's shitty hardware and nearly useless protection mechanisms, fuck with some ActiveX and you got yourself Norton giving error messages til the day's done. Trust me, the level of intelligence needed to destroy your locally networked computers is as low as France is good at winning wars. I mean, a few articles on security sites for latest exploitations available and known on firmware and software versions, simple tutorial on injecting code, and boom, you got yourself a little tunnel from your computer into the "Fuck You" zone on another.
 
It's stealing, no question about it. Plus, as has been mentioned, not everyone has unlimited Internet... some have data caps and are charged for excess usage.

If you want wireless Internet, buy it yourself. It's not a victimless crime.
 
A possible solution would be for Goddess to point out to her neighbours that their connection was open, and ask if they minded her using their bandwidth. That way, if they said yes, she wouldn't have to worry about whether she was stealing.
Click to expand...

well, i guess that would technically be known as the Anschluss.

:)
 
Maybe I should setup an open wireless network just to find out what kind of porn my neighbors are surfing :D hehe just kidding but out of curiousity what program is it that catches all the packets ?
 
THR! said:
It's stealing, no question about it..
Click to expand...
i disagree. many of us actually leave our wifi open for others to have access too. if someone doesn't want it used, lock it.

i do agree it is an interesting ethical discussion

like usual....i do not see this as a black and white issue.

are you being cheap and not paying for your own, and using the neighbors access on a constant basis? while not unethical, i find it just to be bad business...

are you on a short trip and utilizing an easy accessible signal...i see no problem in that in any way at all.

bottom line, this signal is being sent into your house if they don't want you to use it, they shouldn't have done that.
 
Last edited:
DarkCode said:
Sorry dude, but I gotta quote you and argue the point. When there is connections to a network, you can easily find open ports to submit malicious requests through, alongside possible malicious code. Sure there are times when nothing is fucking possible, like when the ethernet cable is unplugged. But when theres a connection, and theres a will, theres a way.

Trust me, no secure network is as secure as you may think. Exploitation is possible from low level all the way to high level client programming. You can exploit the firmware of a router, hell even the fucking cabel modem, if you really wanted to. Its just a matter of a little time, a little energy, a bit of intelligence.

I hate seeing myself as a nerd for my previous involvements in such "counter-productive" behavior, taking something that works, and forcing it to not work for others. But you learn from your past to influence other's futures.

In short if you wanted to start tracking down every bit of information from another connected computer on your network:

- Setup a way to log and retrieve data from all packets being sent and recieved.
- Use packet information for retrieving personal security information ie: passwords, logins, etc.
- If packet logging yields sparse results, real-time packet modification schemes can be executed to modify the resulting incoming and outgoing packets, the flow, and transfer, and the ability to exploit the low-security of the connections between computers inside the same network.

You can easily implant a trojan on a networked computer, and exploiting the vulnerabilities that lie within a home consumer network's shitty hardware and nearly useless protection mechanisms, fuck with some ActiveX and you got yourself Norton giving error messages til the day's done. Trust me, the level of intelligence needed to destroy your locally networked computers is as low as France is good at winning wars. I mean, a few articles on security sites for latest exploitations available and known on firmware and software versions, simple tutorial on injecting code, and boom, you got yourself a little tunnel from your computer into the "Fuck You" zone on another.
Click to expand...

Pretend like I'm talking very slowly.

The above listed information could apply to almost any situation, and does not automatically apply to the original scenario given. I'm fully aware as to how malicious software is installed.
 
forgotten said:
Pretend like I'm talking very slowly.

The above listed information could apply to almost any situation, and does not automatically apply to the original scenario given. I'm fully aware as to how malicious software is installed.
Click to expand...

Ya, true, it can apply to almost anything. But I think the best idea would be to start logging into the local ip address for the router off of the network, then using the login that comes with each router. Admin/Admin, etc. You should be able to block out your neighbor's computers from accessing their own network, and then you can really have some high speed connectivity.

Oh, ya. :D
 
What you propose is ridiculously stupid. I assume you are referring to WEP cracking (sniffing packets, cracking a dump, using a verified MAC), then using it to change administrative privileges (change the password)??

Are you dumb? Blocking the other computer is the most idiotic thing you could do. Anyone wanting free access should wish that their activities on the network were never found out. Screwing with the other computer makes them think "Hmm.. wtf? Let me reset this thing".

You can mimic another computer on a wifi network (given that they cannot detect your MAC cloning), making you invisible with free access to the network. Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that, Mr. Leet, would you?
 
In my defense, pretending to know about something like that deserves to be corrected in such a fashion.
 
i'm not sure about war driving anymore.

used to be that if you send out a signal, it can be received by anyone, just not amplified. so using a neighbors wifi wouldn't be illegal,

no matter what the laws are, it is absolutely not stealing.

if i subscribed to syrius satellite radio, and blasted my stereo so loud that my neighbor could hear it IF they opened their window, but not if they didn't. would that mean they were choosing to steal the use of my subscription by opening the window.

its the same as opening up the connection.
 
Last edited:
^^ too bad the courts don't feel the same here in the US

who knows, i'm sure there's still legal conjecture about it

IMO, i have no problem tapping into unprotected wifi. they didn't encrypt it for a reason.
 
Some of you seem to be mistaking WiFi for one-way radio. WiFi is two-way, meaning you are also sending a signal back to the router that needs to be processed, and therefore takes up bandwidth. You're not just picking up errant radio waves, you're taking up someone else's internet connection.

But as was mentioned before, anyone that doesn't encrypt their signal either does not mind others using their connection or doesn't know the difference. Just don't make the mistake that you're only picking up a left-over signal and not interfering with someone else's connection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top