Wireless Router Security issues, Belkin Wireless G router

[Tripod]MajorPayne

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 15, 2004
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Hey all, I'm having some network security issues. I'm in an apartment complex and I need wireless access for my laptop, and the occasional friend's laptop, so I have a Belkin Wireless G router . I configured it to have a unique SSID and a pretty long passkey. The other day, I just randomly checked the status and found 4 connections on my DHCP server, 2 of which were NOT supposed to be there. One's host name is a jumble of letters and numbers, but the other one was Meredith_4 or something, so I know it was another person.

That said, I wanted to lock the router down pretty well. So, I enabled MAC Address filtering. I've never had to do this before, so I'm a bit ignorant of its capabilities. I figured that the ones I put in and didn't check "block" for would be allowed, and perhaps all others would be blocked. It doesn't appear to work this way, because one of the rogue connections was still on, even when I enabled filtering. So, I put his/hers/its MAC address in and checked "Block." I reset the router and the configuration took, but the connection still showed on the DHCP. I KNOW there are no other computers or wireless devices in this apartment, so what gives?

Also, I keep trying to put an administrator password on the router, but it won't take. It allows me to hit "Submit" after changing the password, but then it says "Allow 25 seconds for the router to restart," and then does nothing. Trying to login with the new password fails, and the default is just blank. WTF? This is annoying.

I also attempted to change the wireless passkey, and its changes didn't take. I'm at the computer that's physically connected to the router, and the MAC changes took just fine, but the password ones won't. Anyone have any ideas? Would a firmware upgrade fix this? :(
 
Connect your PC to one of the LAN ports with a network cable. Reset it to defaults, log in and turn off the wireless so you are the only PC connected. Now try setting your admin password and see what happens. Once you get that sorted you can turn your wifi back on and lock it down. If you can I would recommend using WPA or even WPA2 encryption. For mac filtering you want to enter the mac addresses of your wireless cards and allow only those to connect. On my home network I use a unique SSID and disable SSID broadcast. I also use MAC filtering to only allow my cards to connect. I changed my routers default IP address and disabled the DHCP function so it will not give out IP addresses. I use static IP's on my PC's.
 
I've got all of those security features enabled. I was using WPA, with a unique SSID and a password. I went in and tried to change to WPA2, change the password, and obscure the password's characters in the router config page. It wouldn't take. The admin password change wouldn't take.

I guess I will have to try the "hard reset" method and disable wireless for the time being. I'm using MAC filtering. I'll probably also tell it to stop broadcasting an SSID.

However, my main question is if anyone knows why some changes wouldn't take? Flaky HTTP interface? Interference from outside sources? Bad Firmware? It just seems odd to me that the router won't do what I tell it. :confused:
 
[Tripod]MajorPayne;1032292516 said:
However, my main question is if anyone knows why some changes wouldn't take? Flaky HTTP interface? Interference from outside sources? Bad Firmware? It just seems odd to me that the router won't do what I tell it. :confused:

I was thinking something like one of the above. If the admin password is blank and somebody is on your wireless network they could be screwing around with it. That or just interfering with your wireless signal. Turning off your wireless while you do some setup will prevent someone from trying to connect to the router. If somebody did get in and change some settings doing a reset will erase anything that they have done. Personally I aways go to the latest firmware, maybe there is a bug in the version you have now. How long have you had this router? Maybe it is defective?
 
I've been using it about 6 or 8 months. Other than not taking changes using the HTTP interface, the wireless signal is a bit spotty. In other words, a computer using the wireless will frequently have to renew its IP address and re-identify the network, as if the router drops connections randomly. This is definitely not a high-dollar router, it just works for a budget setup. However, the messed-up interface and occasional drops make it frustrating...
 
I had a Belkin Wireless G router, never really used the wireless side of it much. Didn't have any problems with setup from a wired connection though IE. I only bought it because it was on sale. I prefer D-Link which is what I have now, a DIR-616. No real complaints with the Belkin I just decided to upgrade to an N router and bought the D-Link on sale.
 
I had a Belkin Wireless G router, never really used the wireless side of it much. Didn't have any problems with setup from a wired connection though IE. I only bought it because it was on sale. I prefer D-Link which is what I have now, a DIR-616. No real complaints with the Belkin I just decided to upgrade to an N router and bought the D-Link on sale.

Meh...I just tried reconfiguring it, but I didn't get it done all the way. A few people were using it and went rabid on me when I said I needed to cut it for about half an hour. I'll do it later, but I did get as far as obscuring the password. That at least took. I'll probably change the admin password and the wireless password itself in a little while... Progress!

Thanks to all who helped, even if you just affirmed my suspicions.
 
A few weeks ago I had a wireless router that would not block traffic between a certain time or update to an NTP server unless I changed the default login password. Had me going for hours.

Try changing your password first.
 
I would stay clear of ANY Belkin products. Used about 3 of their routers, 2 G's, 1 N, and they all sucked majorly. Would never keep the connection, randomly freeze up and have to be reset every day at least once, troulbe DHCP'ing, nothing but troubles. Wired was better than Wireless, but even then it would mess up almost daily. I moved over to a WRT54G with DD-WRT, and never looked back, a really solid router. I personally am a fan of Linksys routers, and some D-Link's, specifically their higher end N routers, as their G has some problems. But yeah, I wouldn't even bother with the Belking anymore, buy a WRT54GL or a high end D-Link and you won't regret it.
 
Yeah... my "home" network (at my parents' house) is on a Linksys. It's given us trouble in the past by not renewing its DHCP clients, so we'd have to manually go release the DHCP server from the router and renew it. It would give us LAN but not WAN, so we had to have it renew its IP from the modem every now and then...

Most of my networking experience has been good, but there always seem to be a few hangups...
 
I use static IP's on all my PC's, the only time I ever turn DHCP on is when my father comes for a visit with his laptop. I enter my ISP's DNS info manually on each PC so its not being forwarded by the router. I hardly ever have any network problems and when I do reseting my cable modem usually fixes it. ;)
 
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