Weird Linksys router question

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-05-11 12:38am

The router can only run one wireless network at a time, right? I'm talking about one of the newer models, a WRT54GS.

It's kind of a paranoid question, but we just replaced our D-Link with a new Linksys router this night, and while the secured wireless network we created is up and running, another unsecured wireless network simply called 'Linksys' also appeared, one which I can't remember seeing before (although, since my computer autoconnects to our home network, I don't generally check the other networks in my neighborhood).

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-05-11 12:58am

I'd be surprised if the router was broadcasting two SSIDs at once. You should try to grab some packets from this other 'linksys' network and try to determine if it's your device. That'll be easy if it's totally insecure.

Have you done simple tests like turning off your router, then using your wireless devices to see if you can access this other network? It's quite likely someone else has a linksys router and never bothered to configure it.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-05-11 01:10am

Stark wrote:I'd be surprised if the router was broadcasting two SSIDs at once. You should try to grab some packets from this other 'linksys' network and try to determine if it's your device. That'll be easy if it's totally insecure.

Have you done simple tests like turning off your router, then using your wireless devices to see if you can access this other network? It's quite likely someone else has a linksys router and never bothered to configure it.

That's probably the case. Plus, the two networks didn't spring into existence at the same time; the unsecured Linksys router was there (I actually logged onto it), before our secured home network came up. Still, I'll give it a test.

EDIT: Yeah, I'm totally paranoid. I just unplugged the router, then ran down and checked. The insecure network was still up. Then when I plugged in ours, our secure home network came up.

Still, I feel sorry for the poor bastard running the completely insecure Linksys network (and I mean that, as it doesn't even have WEP), especially considering how strong the signal is. He's probably got half the neighborhood potentially leeching off him.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-05-11 01:14am

Ah, yeah then it's likely just another device. Turn your router off and look for 'local wireless networks' and see if this other suspicious network is still there - this should solve the confusion.

I've got a similar situation here - my wireless network doesn't broadcast an SSID, but one of my neighbours sniffed it out anyway and renamed their router along the same lines as mine. Every time it pops up, I wonder if I misconfigured my WPA2 and they have ruled me in some way.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-05-11 01:21am

Stark wrote:Ah, yeah then it's likely just another device. Turn your router off and look for 'local wireless networks' and see if this other suspicious network is still there - this should solve the confusion.

I've got a similar situation here - my wireless network doesn't broadcast an SSID, but one of my neighbours sniffed it out anyway and renamed their router along the same lines as mine. Every time it pops up, I wonder if I misconfigured my WPA2 and they have ruled me in some way.

That's kind of odd; why would they re-name their network along the same lines as yours?

In any case, WPA is the next project. Since I set up the network with my bro, I'm going to try talking him into working with me on getting it set to WPA, then hopefully getting the Wii Wireless to work with that. I think I'll probably do okay with 128-key WEP until then, especially with the insecure Linksys guy drawing any potential moochers.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-05-11 01:25am

I imagine simply to let me know that they detected it. I expect they're bogan script kiddies being super-proud of their ability to detect non-obvious wireless.

WEP is totally useless. Seriously. You can break WEP in ten minutes. It is in no way acceptable security, and it's only good for keeping out mistaken auto-logins.

I've had no problems getting the Wii to work with WPA2 (aside from using the onscreen keyboard to input a 63-character key).

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-05-11 01:42am

Some high-end business/enterprise access points and the DD-WRT firmware ctually let you have multiple WLANs on a single access point.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-05-11 01:48am

Stark wrote:I imagine simply to let me know that they detected it. I expect they're bogan script kiddies being super-proud of their ability to detect non-obvious wireless.

WEP is totally useless. Seriously. You can break WEP in ten minutes. It is in no way acceptable security, and it's only good for keeping out mistaken auto-logins.

I've had no problems getting the Wii to work with WPA2 (aside from using the onscreen keyboard to input a 63-character key).

Did you need any other special stuff in addition to the router to get WPA2 to work? I know that the wireless adapter on my laptop can work with WPA2 (since it was set up to use my university's wi-fi access, which is WPA2 protected), but I don't know if I have to add anything else in addition to the router to use it on a home network.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-05-11 01:56am

phongn wrote:Some high-end business/enterprise access points and the DD-WRT firmware ctually let you have multiple WLANs on a single access point.

Yeah, I've used some of these in the past, but I felt it unlikely Bass was using one.

Bass wrote: Did you need any other special stuff in addition to the router to get WPA2 to work? I know that the wireless adapter on my laptop can work with WPA2 (since it was set up to use my university's wi-fi access, which is WPA2 protected), but I don't know if I have to add anything else in addition to the router to use it on a home network.

Nope. The Wii supports WPA and in the network menus you configure the security and enter the key and it's all fine.

Er, if you mean network-wise, your router needs to support WPA. Almost all modern wireless routers do, so that shouldn't be a problem, you just change a setting to WPA, throw in a random key, then go enter it on the Wii and your laptop.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2007-05-11 02:39am

I accidentally reflashed my neighbor's router to openwrt since he left it wide open on the default SSID, and I forgot to turn my wireless off (had router hooked to ethernet, but apparently wireless came first in routing table).

He was lucky that it still functions and wasn't bricked.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-05-12 06:04pm

UPDATE: I found a good website that tells you all about securing the particular Linksys router I was using, a WRT54GS model (in case anyone else has it), at

http://www.tekstenuitleg.net/en/article ... ty_guide/3. It told me all about how to set up WPA, and a number of other security measures like disabling broadcast of your SSID.

I was tempted to try encrypting with AES, but the guide didn't say how to do that, so I left it with TKIP.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-05-12 06:04pm

So yeah, it's on WPA right now.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-05-12 08:40pm

Disabling SSID broadcase does nothing but make it harder on yourself. MAC address filtering is also fairly useless (all packets have the MAC address in them. Take one in use, and clone it. When that comp goes off the net, start using it.)