Airport Guest Network Security

[Davmeister]

Hello all.

I've got a 2013 Time capsule. 5 Ghz network for my retina macbook pro on 802.11ac for fast backups & Airport Disk access. 2.4 Ghz for extended range to reach my kitchen. And I'm about to set up a guest network. I know that it is segregated in terms of network access to devices e.g. printer/another mac, so I'm wondering why bother secure it with a password, apart from others logging on as they pass by to download on my connection (I have a 60 meg download speed and no limits whatsoever...).

Cheers

Tom

 

[simsaladimbamba]

What if someone uses that free internet connection to download and upload material deemed pirated or illegally obtained? As this is your internet connection, you will be charged for money, if such a thing happens and gets investigated.

 

[Davmeister]

What if someone uses that free internet connection to download and upload material deemed pirated or illegally obtained? As this is your internet connection, you will be charged for money, if such a thing happens and gets investigated.

Hmmm. I understand. Any other risks apart from this? I was thinking more hacking into personal contents on computers. I live out of range of any other places. They'd have to be in a car near or standing outside my place to get access to the network.

 

[chabig]

What if someone uses that free internet connection to download and upload material deemed pirated or illegally obtained? As this is your internet connection, you will be charged for money, if such a thing happens and gets investigated.

I don't understand this argument. Were pay phone providers ever held responsible for criminal activity conducted on pay phones? If I put a light in the alley and someone commits a crime under it, would I be held liable for enabling the crime? Is there precedent for holding an internet provider liable?

 

[RMo]

I don't understand this argument. Were pay phone providers ever held responsible for criminal activity conducted on pay phones? If I put a light in the alley and someone commits a crime under it, would I be held liable for enabling the crime? Is there precedent for holding an internet provider liable?

They will hold the ISP's subscriber (you) liable, as with numerous precedents involving, for example, the RIAA in the United States. That's all they will know. They will have no way of knowing whether it occurred on your primary network or on your guest vLAN. It's all the same to your ISP, and I bet activity on your network is not logged as well as it is on their end.

Use a password. Make it easy to remember if you want, maybe. (Another idea: my technologically advanced friends make folded, table/ledge-standing cards around the house with the SSID and password on it during parties, changing the password every so often.)

 

[Primejimbo]

I don't understand this argument. Were pay phone providers ever held responsible for criminal activity conducted on pay phones? If I put a light in the alley and someone commits a crime under it, would I be held liable for enabling the crime? Is there precedent for holding an internet provider liable?

No, because that is a public telephone, and your internet isn't a public wifi hotspot. Why have it open anyways? Most ISP have data caps, you want some yahoo taking free internet and going over your cap? There is no point of you doing this also. If you want to do it for friends when the come over, secure the guest network and give them the pass code for it.

 

[xraydoc]

I don't understand this argument. Were pay phone providers ever held responsible for criminal activity conducted on pay phones? If I put a light in the alley and someone commits a crime under it, would I be held liable for enabling the crime? Is there precedent for holding an internet provider liable?

How about if I park in a car outside your house and download child porn using an IP address registered to you? How well do you think the "but officer, it wasn't me" defense is going to work? And even if it does, what happens to you when your name is published in the paper before you're convicted?

Yes, passwords can be hacked and encryption circumvented. And someone determined to do me harm isn't going to be stopped by a wifi password. But I certainly don't need the neighbor's 14 year old kid casually downloading porn or pirated videos with my IP address. If police catch hacking tools on his computer, then I've got my reasonable doubt.

If there's no password on my wifi, then I may as well have just left the front door unlocked for the crook. With a lock on the door, at least he'd have to have break a window to get in. And if the police find a brick in his possession, then all the better.

 

[Che Castro]

You don't want your neighbor downloading child porn in your connection