Using Cell Phone As A Mobile Access Point

S

Sphere

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Apr 13, 2005
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Hi Everyone,

My boss uses her phone as the wireless access point for getting on line.

She has all her business data/Quickbooks on this lappy, so, I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on what I can do to keep this secure for her.

I know how to keep her secure if she was using a router, but using the phone has me scratching my head.

Edit: She is using a software firewall, which is better than nothing, but, I'm concerned about someone leeching off her connection.

Any help appreciated.

Thank You,

Sphere
 
The cell phone should still show up as a connection in network places.....so firewall settings apply.

Is she connecting via USB connection to the phone? If so...I wouldn't worry about someone leeching from the connection...how would they?

Or..if using bluetooth...use a good pairing password with her phone...not some default one.

Don't leave the administrator account with a blank password.
 
Thanks guys,

She's connected via usb.

I was just thrown for a loop when she told me she used her phone as the access point.
 
sometimes you have to think a bit more broadly about the language people use when attempting to speak "techie"

she probably doesn't realize what an actual "access point" (in networking vocab) actually is, or maybe she has heard it somewhere and thought it applied somehow... or maybe she just put the two words together accidentally.... access.... the internet... and you need a point to access the internet from, therefore the phone is an access point


with problems like these, the miscommunications become transparent the more you work with users... especially as you deal with less and less technically savvy users... (or ones that have a bit of knowledge but think they have a lot more)
 
Sounds like 3g broadband, like EVDO or HSPA. People aren't going to leach off of it like they could WiFi access points. The computer should be treated the same as though a cable modem were plugged directly into the computer.

A decent software firewall and anti-malware software will go a long way. Make sure all the user accounts are at least password protected. Since it's a laptop, I'd be more concerned about it being stolen; with that in mind you might want to look into full disk encryption solutions such as TrueCrypt.
 
I appreciate it, I'll make sure the accounts are password protected.
 
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