Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake
I used to run my Wi-Fi Access Points in open mode. No more. It's not safe. Here's why.
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Hope this is enough
I hope my configuration is safe enough (and it works with Linux): WPA2 Personal with AES+TKIP encryption.Of course I can't use WPA2 Enterprise.
"You see while 2.4Ghz
"You see while 2.4Ghz 802.11g and 802.11n have up to 14-channels, in practice you can only use three of them in any given area-typically 1, 6, and 11-before running into interference that slows down everyone's performance."Actually 802.11n has something like 24 discreet channels, its 802.11b and g that have the limited number of channels.
Of course it's not safe!
Of course it's not safe! You've missed the biggest point. Not only can anyone with a computer within range of your ap bring your network to it's knees but they can poison your traffic and grab passwords -- even ssl encrypted if you're not paying attention and you're obviously not. That's your bank account, email, itworld information... probably most of your life and lively-hood.I too provide open access on my network, but it's on a screened subnet, that subnet is monitored with snort, caped at about 20% of my bandwidth, and all traffic to the Internet is piped through Tor (The Onion Router.) This configuration protects my internal networks from the wireless, helps to keep my notified of what's happening on that network and also shields me from liability if a neighbour happens to be a paedophile.
If you've got the time look into reconfiguring your network a little. You can have the best of both worlds (sorta)
Sod that - WPA2 Personal and Wireless MAC Filtering
I'm very surprised you leave it open :/Mine is locked down:
WPA2 Personal
Encryption: AES
Wireless MAC Filtering
Passphrase: 64 Char
I do leave SSID Broadcast on but that is bad practice really.