Home Networking

[ietermago]

Does anyone know of an alternative to Microsoft Networking? It must be free, easy and secure. Ideally it must be a program that integrates with Explorer and uses encryption...

 

[Goobie]

Why not MS networking?

 

[masticore]

only thing I can think of right now is SFTP, but we're talking "networking for file transfer" only. Dunno if Exploder will talk to an SFTP server either.

Here's a brief WTF : http://www.digitalmediaminute.com/article/1487/setting-up-a-sftp-server-on-windows

 

[Moederloos]

in my brief experience, getting windoze to play nicely with anything else is not easy.

maybe if you can tell us what you want to accomplish etc, help may be easier.

 

[ietermago]

Windows' security makes me paranoid, especially NetBIOS. But I suppose if I disable guest login and create usernames and passwords, it should be safe right? It's for my wireless network at home (encryption and all that is on of course ). What's your opinion?

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that someone is not following me

 

[Scooby_Doo]

bit over kill... who is going to try hack your home network... take a laptop and see how far the signal goes, u'll probably find that it doesn't even leave your property... Disable SSID broadcast on the wireless hub and put encryption on. The end.

PS The wireless hub/router does all the encryption not any ms junk.


Edit.

I have a wireless network myself... U can set it up to only allow certain MAC addresses to be able to connect to your network... Now that is pretty strong security. (Just incase u don't know what a MAC address is, every network card in the world has a unique MAC address)

 

[Goobie]

to be perfectly safe go with Cat 5...I don't know if there is such a thing as a perfectly secure wi-fi setup.

 

[Moederloos]

Windows' security makes me paranoid, especially NetBIOS. But I suppose if I disable guest login and create usernames and passwords, it should be safe right? It's for my wireless network at home (encryption and all that is on of course ). What's your opinion?

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that someone is not following me

The problem here, is even if you utilise some other network layer, the windoze one is still there, happily allowing all and sundry to access your network - it is the paranoid man who is in possession of all the facts

EDIT: Steps to ensure windoze PC is safe from hacking

Step 1: Switch off PC.

 

[titanium]

I have a wireless network myself... U can set it up to only allow certain MAC addresses to be able to connect to your network... Now that is pretty strong security. (Just incase u don't know what a MAC address is, every network card in the world has a unique MAC address)

Since MAC addresses are stored unencrypted in the wireless packet header, it is trivial to sniff wireless packets over the air for MAC addresses and then to spoof them. I wouldn't rely on using MAC filtering as a security measure - more as a deterrent against script kiddies, but you certainly should have other security measures in place (WPA, for example.)

Cheers

 

[Scooby_Doo]

Since MAC addresses are stored unencrypted in the wireless packet header, it is trivial to sniff wireless packets over the air for MAC addresses and then to spoof them. I wouldn't rely on using MAC filtering as a security measure - more as a deterrent against script kiddies, but you certainly should have other security measures in place (WPA, for example.)

Cheers

Yes, (didn't mean that on its own) but this is a home network, and i'm going to throw it out there, as this would prevent almost every one sitting around his house (its gonna be kind of hard to not notice some one standing out side your gate with a laptop, as well as point less for the person to hack a home wireless network) from getting into the network. As well as having WPA and other encryption enabled will be perfect for a home network. Unless of cause this person is some sort of criminal (The owner of the wireless network) and got highly sensitive data running accross the network.

Plus you can have alook at the log on the router/hub and check what PCs have connected to the network and upgrade or increase security as needed.


The only issue i have with my wireless when i got it was that my neighbour might try to use my ADSL line...

 

[Luke7777]

Secure the entry point, not the all the stuff behind it

 

[ietermago]

Thanks for all the help guys..... I guess why I asked about an alternative is because I don't trust Windows with all its vulnerabilities. Though most have been patched, you never know what else might be out there. So I guess my question is: If I have a good firewall, all the wireless security settings correctly configured etc., is there a risk in enabling File and Printer Sharing (NetBIOS)?

 

[Goobie]

yes there is a risk, but it is subjective from person to person, for me that would be OK cause I would also password protect the shared folders and only grant permission to certain users. Make sure you also have an XP administrator password set up, that way you are somewhat protected from linux users using Conqueror to hack windows networked computers.