Locking down wireless traffic

Thursday, May 26, 2005

After years of insecure, passwordless SSH keys (I hate typing passwords every ten minutes), I’m finally on ssh-agent. SSHKeychain is cool. Now if it only did tunnels with the -D (SOCKS) option, I could throw away SSH Tunnel Manager.

Still need to setup OpenVPN for those apps that disregard or do not understand proxy settings. Looks like it can run on a Linksys WRT54G, which is cool, because I’m planning to get one to replace my feeble Belkin. I’ll still need a remote server also providing OpenVPN for when using mobile access (Airtel, Hutch, Reliance).

Vaguely related: here’s a cool way to piggyback someone’s wireless connection by spoofing their identity and tunnelling through OpenVPN, which uses UDP, which is connectionless and hence will not interfere with that person’s network access.

achitnis — May 26, 2005 7:56:49 PM — # ↩

Look at the WRT54GS instead - twice the memory, which is good if you replace the firmware with sveasoft's Alchemy or similar things (which is something you should do without a moment of hesitation).

Also, there is some controversy about the switched ethernet ports on the WRT54G - I cannot put my finger on it right now, but I think it involved the ports never reaching full speed. The issue is fixed in the GS model.

Did you hear the one about someone porting the Asterisk PBX software to the WRT54G? :)

http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000640041977/
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — May 26, 2005 8:19:46 PM — # ↩
  
  Any idea how much a WRT54GS is off SP Road? Bro's going there Saturday (and is reasonably well acquainted to not get ripped off).
  - achitnis — May 26, 2005 8:48:33 PM — # ↩
    
    Am not really sure - multiple issues actually:
    
    Cisco/Linksys advertised the router for sale here in India, and then couldnt find a single piece to give PCQ for a review. This was 3 months ago. At the same time, it was available on the grey market, but I wasn't willing to risk that (no warranty), so bought one in the USA for $80.
    
    I am told the G (not the GS) is available around 6K on SP road, but really am not sure. Mrinal bought a G the other day, could check with him.
    - achitnis — May 28, 2005 12:08:32 PM — # ↩
      
      Update - the WRT54G is Rs.4000 at Railton Electronics, SP Road (inclusive of taxes). GS not available at this time. While you are there, pick up a couple of 12V/1AMP wall-warts - the Linksys power unit can't handle Indian power fluctuations, and the warranty does not cover the power supply. Make sure it *is* 1 AMP - the Linksys units SUCK power, and if the current rating isnt up to scratch, you get weitrd (and not so wonderful) results.
acmurthy — May 26, 2005 9:59:03 PM — # ↩

Very cool link!

This weekend is going to be packed with work needed on acpi & sound for my toshiba tecra... not the least: piggybacking!

For it's worth: I have a Linksys WRT54G and am quite pleased with it... a friend procured it for me from the land of USD - cost me $70 (which of course is atleast $20 more than what you would pay for it online... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007KDVI/qid=1117124561/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-1132462-7011807?v=glance&s=pc&n=507846? You could pay with an international cc...)
- premshree — May 26, 2005 10:51:20 PM — # ↩
  
  OT
  Btw... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007KDVI/ is all you require; it's generally good to get rid of all those optional parameters.
  - acmurthy — May 27, 2005 8:11:56 AM — # ↩
    
    Re: OT
    my bad... merci!
sidcarter — May 26, 2005 10:40:26 PM — # ↩

Got the WRT54G for approx 50 USD from singapore. It's double the price and more here. Got one for my manager also :D
nome — May 27, 2005 10:03:23 AM — # ↩

I can send you one if you want
I can send you one from here in about $ 50 USD. BTW tried Apple Wireless.
I am still saving money to buy my powerbook.
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — May 27, 2005 12:09:02 PM — # ↩
  
  Re: I can send you one if you want
  Rakesh, the postage and customs alone will make it about as expensive as buying locally. I'll wait for someone doing the route to pick it up for me.