On 1 May 2007 12:06:34 -0700, yousaf.hassan@gmail.com wrote in
<1178046394.443935.103190@n76g2000hsh.googlegroups .com>:

>Thanks, Jeff. I was just discussing the same issues with a friend of
>mine.
>
>Disabling the broadcast of SSID makes sense to me.

What makes you think your assessment is better than those of security
experts?

>Not that I am
>totally relying on this feature for my overall network security, I
>have WPA2 enabled for that. I feel that if my neighbour, a complete
>novice, turns on his laptop and sees my network, although he is unable
>to do any harm but he can let other people know that a network xyz
>exists. And by word of mouth it can reach a knowledgable hacker.

That's not something to actually worry about for at least two reasons:
1. WPA2 with a strong passphrase will stop even a knowledgable hacker.
2. Knowledgable hackers don't find networks that way -- they use tools
able to find networks even with SSID broadcast turned off.

>For
>example, in my area everyone can see the network of the local council.
>This means that everyone knows there is a network there to hack into.

Irrelevant. Everyone knows where your house is. What stops them is
whatever real security you have (locks, alarms), your neighbors, and the
local police. Throwing a huge tarp over your house wouldn't help.

>I don't want anyone to know the existence of my wireless lan apart
>from a couple of machines that I use at home. Even if I have to
>sacrifice a bit of performance as a result.

The point is that the people who matter _will_ still know you have a
wireless LAN. What the people who don't matter know is irrelevant, and
it's likewise irrelevant what the people who matter know _if_ you have
strong WPA security.

>Regarding MAC address filtering, my point of view is that even though
>it is easy to hack into but at least it is bit of an effort.

It's actually no effort at all to those who matter.

>Again,
>performance is not an issue here and I don't get too many people
>visiting me with their laptops every day.

What may be an issue is forgetting what you've done, and somewhere down
the road wasting hours or even days troubleshooting it. Before you say
that won't happen to you, I'll tell you I've heard that claim lots of
times from people that did then forget and had to get my help fixing
their own problem.

You're making bad judgements. The reasons are that you don't really
understand the issues, and aren't willing to take the advice of experts
that do. Unless you're going to take the time to learn and really
understand the issues, you should rely on expert advice. Going against
such advice is just sooner or later going to get you into trouble.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>