Router Security

I live about 100 yards from the nearest road and my nearest neighbour. Because of this I have switched off password protection for anyone wishing to join my network. Am I missing anything?

If someone connects to your network and accesses illegal material you will find it very difficult to prove it wasn't you. Someone could also use your connection to spam emails and sites which could then result in your connection going on a block list for various providers. Or someone could connect to the network and hack your devices, get your data, bank logins, etc.

Why would you turn off the password? It isn't particularly onerous to enter a password to connect devices and it helps protects you from the above examples and potentially many other ways someone could misuse it.

In reply to a post by ponyman:

I live about 100 yards from the nearest road and my nearest neighbour. Because of this I have switched off password protection for anyone wishing to join my network. Am I missing anything?

100 yards (91 metres) is not that far to be honest, I am significantly further away from the nearest quiet country lane than that where there is no ability to stop (no pavements either), I also have to drive a lot further to my nearest neighbour and there is no way on earth I would risk turning off security on my WLAN.

In reply to a post by dect:

no way on earth I would risk turning off security on my WLAN.

With WPA2 and WPA3 it is probably faster to leave it on, the chips and software don't expect it to be off.

but what is the risk?

In reply to a post by ponyman:

but what is the risk?

Consider this question, do you leave your front door unlocked when you go out as you don't live near to a main road or neighbours?

In reply to a post by ponyman:

but what is the risk?

I mentioned a number in my post - did any of those cause you any concern?

In reply to a post by ian72:

In reply to a post by ponyman:

but what is the risk?

I mentioned a number in my post - did any of those cause you any concern?

As you say there are so many bad things people can do if they have access to your internal network.

Thank you very much for your comments.
The frightening thing is that about 25 years ago I wrote a paper on computer security in which I compared the network as the path up to the front door and stated that the important thing was to have security at the door.
I really should take note of my own statements!

In reply to a post by ponyman:

I really should take note of my own statements!

If you’re an InfoSec type have a search around these topics:
* Protection of Information in Transit
* Zero Trust
* Defence in depth

What is the benefit of switching off the password protection? All the wifi devices I have remember the password. I don't have to keep re entering it each time I want to connect.

In reply to a post by ponyman:

but what is the risk?

Also consider that everything communicated over wifi is sent without encryption so anyone within range could easily access everything you do. No wifi protection means your wired network is totally accessible also.

This is not an issue for everyone though if all you are doing is internet browsing and streaming TV.

For the minimal effort of adding a password though that had to be entered once on each device, is it worth the risk?

I'm not sure you could be held accountable for what someone else has done if they access your 'free' wifi. As far as I know, nobody has ever been prosecuted for this.

You are not required to keep logs and it would be required to prove guilt rather than you innocence.
Not a lawyer though so treat as such

In reply to a post by smouty:

Also consider that everything communicated over wifi is sent without encryption so anyone within range could easily access everything you do. No wifi protection means your wired network is totally accessible also.

It is possible to segregate but not with the free ISP routers. Also WiFi can be picked up at surprisingly long range, even without a pringles can antenna.

If nothing else, what you'll find now is that most modern devices will complain about connecting to networks without passwords etc. For that reason alone I would configure something so that everything won't keep showing "unsecured network" etc etc.

how do I make my own post i can only ever see option to reply?

On the individual forms where you look at the list of posts towards the top right is a button "post".