Posted: 12/8/2007 11:19:12 PM EDT
| I recently bought a Netgear rangemax wireless router from Best Buy to use for playing XBOX live, and using my laptop. I know nothing about networking, but i'm not a complete idiot with computers though. I just want my network to be as secure as possible, no neighbors stealing internet access, or hackers getting into my system. The guy helping me at Best Buy recommended that I use the Geek Squad's $159.00 in home network setup. He said my network would have military grade encryption, and would be nearly impossible to crack. I'm not to sure about all that, and for $159 it has me thinking maybe I could set it up and secure it myself, and spend the $$$ on hookers and blow instead. What do you guys think? Is there a book I could buy, or a website that could show me what to do? Or should I just shell out the money? |
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Yeah, Best Buy advertises the service on their website here: LINK When he told me the serivce costs $160.00 it sent my bullshit meter soaring, but like I said I know dick about networking so I wanted to ask the pros. |
| way to high dont do that. The geek squad from my exp. going into the store have no idea how to do a lot of things. In my opinion depending on what your doing security not that important unless u have people mooching of your internet and slowing you down. I run an open network but setting up a secure one is simple it should be in the booklet that came with your router and I think they even have a set up wizard that pretty much does it for you. But really know one is going hack your network and steel all the files on your computer if your just gaming and doing normal internet things I wouldn't worry about it. |
guys thats average for a service call for computer work.....  i've never set one up, some how i would you will be able to use the most secure wpa personal 2 encryption though. the last time i set one up you had to use wep 128 it was a pita to setup. things may have changed it might work with the new super duper secure encryption -shrug |
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Set it up yourself and save the $160. Even if there weren't ample evidence that Geek Squad is an utter scam (and there is), setting up a home network is too easy to pay someone else to do, and if you DID pay someone else to do it, then you'll be helpless when it comes time to do simple tasks like open ports or whatnot. As an aside, 90% of the time you hear someone mention 'military grade encryption', your bullshit alarm should go off. WPA does use an encryption algorithm (AES) that is a federal government standard for protecting unclassified information, however the cryptographic algorithms used by militaries to secure classified information are often themselves classified. Even if they weren't, how you use encryption is at least as critical to your security as which encryption you use. A few points about wireless security: * Some security nuts, myself included, will tell you that securing wireless is hopeless, and to use an open access point and secure your traffic with a VPN. These security nuts are forgetting their audience, and thus wasting your time. Don't listen to them. * Use WPA, _NOT_ WEP. DO NOT get them confused. Any script kiddie with a laptop and a Linux CD can crack a WEP key in minutes. If you run WEP, the only protection you have is against neighbors who would freeload off your wifi but lack the skills to crack WEP themselves. * When you choose the password/passphrase for WPA, make sure this is a strong passphrase. By 'strong' I mean eight or more characters, not dictionary words, combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation. A randomly generated passphrase is best but hardest to remember. You could also make it a long English nonsense phrase that you're likely to remember. You can google 'secure passphrase' and get some additional ideas. * Change the default SSID (that is, 'name') of your wireless network. Linksys routers default to 'LINKSYS'; NetGear routers to 'NETGEAR'. Part of the security of the WPA key is that your passphrase is combined with the name of your network using cryptographic functions to generate the actual encryption key. If you use a common name for your network, an attacker can pre-compute possible keys based on weak passphrases. If this sounds farfetched, I just downloaded a 40GB file containing pre-computed keys for the 1000 most common network names and a million common passphrases. I captured some traffic from a 'NETGEAR' access point and was able to try all one million passphrases in about 20 seconds. Don't let that happen to you. So, summary: * Use WPA (or WPA2) NOT WEP * Choose a secure passphrase * Change your wireless network's name (SSID) to something unique |