After looking around my computer parts stash,I found a router I bought 2 years ago and when I call the service department for this router,he said that hooking 2 router up will give me twice the security.They are both wireless routers.The guy also told me it has a 50 foot signal makeing it harder for hackers.I am being hacked from about 80 feet away now.He also said that turning off the wireless fuction will give me less security.Should I go with wireless???Do you think this is the way for me to go after seeing all the problems I've had with a hacker???:confused:

I thought you would have figured out by now that you need to dump the wireless and go wired to get rid of your wireless buddy.
Alternative is to bring someone in to actually setup your system.
But if the guys that good ,wired is the way to go.

And with the alleged info you have on him ,wheres the Law ?

When you say "hack", do you mean that someone is just leeching off of your signal, or literally "breaking in" to your router? If it is just someone leeching your signal then it's as simple as securing your network. That function is in your router and you simply have to turn it on. This is a very simple thing to do. Look in your manual and it should tell you the IP address of your router. Access the menu and turn on the encryption. No more "hacker"

Dan ,to bring you up to date on this "saga":
Part 1 - http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226259
Part 2 - http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228488
Part 3 - http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229448

Wired is always better, Cat 5E and 6 wiring are faster too.

I run a router as my internet gateway and a wireless router on my network. The wireless is locked down via encryption, I use static IP's not DHCP and MAC address assignments.

After looking around my computer parts stash,I found a router I bought 2 years ago and when I call the service department for this router,he said that hooking 2 router up will give me twice the security.They are both wireless routers.The guy also told me it has a 50 foot signal makeing it harder for hackers.I am being hacked from about 80 feet away now.He also said that turning off the wireless fuction will give me less security.Should I go with wireless???Do you think this is the way for me to go after seeing all the problems I've had with a hacker???:confused:


Dave,

I had read a bit of your other thread that discussed your neighbors antics. Just to provide a bit of background on me: I work on small business networks 40 hours a week and support over 20 offices in and around Jacksonville and St Augustine. Workstations, printers, servers, switches, firewalls, routers, VPN, LAN, WAN, etc. A good bit of my income comes from side work repairing pc's and working on home networks. I've done this as my bread & butter for over 6 years and I'm good at what I do. That said, here's my 2 cents on your situation.

If he is truly a hacker and has done the things you have alleged (and not merely riding your wireless for free internet) then basic WEP security and MAC filtering are not a guarantee to keep him out of your network and out of your computers. That 2 year old router is not going to support anything higher than 128bit encryption (WEP) which can be cracked with simple hacking tools. MAC address's can be cloned similarly so forget about MAC filtering. Combine that with the likelihood that your router does not support Deep Packet Inspection (like a true firewall would) a router is not going to provide you the security you need. If I KNEW I had a hacker living next door and I KNEW he was trying to access my computers to steal my passwords, get my bank account info, credit card numbers, access to on-line banking, etc, etc.. everything else he has access too if he has access to your computer... I would NOT run wireless of any kind and my entire network would be wired. I would also have a real FIREWALL. Not 2 routers. Routers do just what they say they do. They "route" traffic from outside (WAN) to inside (LAN). Someone who knows what they are doing would be able to access your router configuration over the wireless in less than 30 minutes. Once the hacker has accomplished that they can modify your router to allow the use your computer as a porn server, spam server, any number of FTP servers as well as the freedom to hack all computers that are connected to the router. And they'll be telling all their hacker buddies that "there's a home network with 5 computers we have free reign over, yay")

I would set STRONG passwords on ALL user accounts on ALL computers. Verify the Administrator account does not have a BLANK password (very common on home pc's) and any unneeded accounts deleted. Strong passwords are combinations of numbers and upper & lower case letters. Throw in a &%$#@! for good measure. Just make it something unrelated to yourself so it would be impossible for someone to guess it.

I would enable Windows Firewall and install GOOD (see: "not free") anti virus software. Scan and CLEAN all spy ware and virus/Trojan from ALL computers.

I would go spend a few hundred $$$ on a good firewall like this one;

http://www.firewalls.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=8&idproduct=204


In the meantime disable the wireless or just take off the dang antennas.


Anyhow, once I had properly protected myself and fully secured my network I would go here:

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/reporting.htm

and get on it until they either take him away or one of you moves.

What do you think about the Astaro software. Download the .iso and load it on a PC with 2 NICS and a 10 gig HD. Uses a Linux kernal. Free for home users.

I agree with your assessment of his network but unfortunately home users are restricted by budget, many of us cannot afford a PIX. Wireless is a huge threat. I am the Network Engineer for a Credit Union. I refuse to allow wireless in and I regurally scan for it. As far as I am concerned wired is the only way to go.

True Jonathan, true. :yes: Most (I know I can't ) afford $350 for a firewall for their house but I also don't believe I have a hacker next door that has already done damage to my livelihood. If I did you can bet your butt I'd have something more secure than a 2 yr old router with unsecured wireless in his way. Even a cheap firewall will provide more protection than that old router.

Here is one that supports NAT & SPI and is just over $100

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=563

BTW, I havent seen the software you refer to bt it sounds interesting.

Learned about it from a conference. You can get it from www.astaro.com. I loaded it, very easy but haven't had time to play with it yet.

Send me the direct link if you would. I looked on that website and didn't see any free/trialware software.

Here you go:

http://www.astaro.com/our_products/astaro_security_gateway/software_appliance

I thought you would have figured out by now that you need to dump the wireless and go wired to get rid of your wireless buddy.
Alternative is to bring someone in to actually setup your system.
But if the guys that good ,wired is the way to go.

And with the alleged info you have on him ,wheres the Law ?

Dave,
When all this is over....go wired

My computer is at a local repair shop and its being checked for the state police.The city police turned it over to the state police.Monday is the day that they start working full time on my computer files.They are going to install a special firewall of some kind.If I understand this right,4 types of security can be added to each wireless router for a total of 8 types of security.The routers will be set up in the basement leaving them without much signal range.The police have not done much yet,but they have talked to him.He knows that I was the person to bring this to the police and I am seeing some problems.I cant say for sure but I think the police took his lab top.The partying stopped after the thread Steve read this,but the threats started.Im thinking in about 2 weeks this will all be over.I am useing my wifes computer but it has been hacked to pieces.In about a week it goes in to be checked for police.I was looking in the temp internet files and I think I found my hackers email address.How would I check that to see if it comes back to him.All I have is the first part with everything after @missing.

I dont buy any of this. Hackers will attempt to break in, yes. But they tend to know what they are doing will or can get them in trouble. As a result will back off and find a new target if they feel they have been discovered, just like a thief.

I would put a smoothwall proxy (free) and add snort intrusion detection, and put the wireless on the inside of the smoothwall.

Mark,this hacker has gotten away with so much in the past he thinks he's above the law.This was all a game to him till I called the police.This problem is all to real.This is mostly my fault because of lack of security on my computers and security set up wrong.My router was a free for all.My firewall did not need to be torn down,it fell over,because I did not know what I was doing. Ebay was the one that said,WAKE UP,we had to lock your account.The police are working on this but it is allot deeper than what I know about or want to know about.I will help the police in any way I can.When it comes to computers,my wife and I are both computer stupid.I did not know there was security on a router till all this happened.I was given a router by my Internet service and a picture of how to hook it up and turn it on.To much other junk mail in the box.My wife is a 4th grade school teacher but knows nothing about computer security.The school sets up the security on school computers. 2 teachers are in the computer room at all times to make sure the kids don't go into bad areas.This is what we use to call security along with a password.You guys have been our teachers since all this happened.I hope we pass Team Chevelle computer security 101. I don't understand what a smoothwall proxy and snort intrusion detection is or where I would buy them.I think wireless is the way for me to go,after all,my hacker is hackless at this time

Sorry still dont buy it. I doubt the law enforcement officials would want you posting messages on a public forum about an active investigation.. If the alleged hacker has so much access to you info he would know your every move.

I'm done