TiVo Series 3 - "Official" Thread - Page 65

Hehe... not only that, but I have to wonder how much concern one should have with regard to WEP vs. WPA, when so many of the networks here on my block are unsecured!

Yeah, WEP is better then nothing at all but it is a better idea to use WPA. Why? Just because you never know. Suppose your neighbor is a pedophile and he is useing your wireless network to do his sick little thing. Well when the cops come knocking it will be at your door. I'm pretty sure neither of my neighbors are like that but then again how many times do you hear on the news about people being so surprised when someone gets busted.

So true!

Sorry, that's just my inclination, since I developed networking products (mainly routers and switches) for a looooong time.

These days, the hackers can break a WEP network in less than 30 seconds. Not a very big deal if it's just your TiVo sitting on the network, but it's a whole other ball game if you've got other computers with personal information sitting on them. Addtionally, you're decreasing the likelihood that your neighbors are going to piggyback on your wireless network and do whatever they'd like (P2P, kiddie porn, etc).

Besides, the effort in configuring a WEP and WPA network are essentially the same. Why wouldn't you want to be extra sure that your stuff is safe ?

And he said to the people,

"People who live afraid, tremble."

Wasn't there also a saying about fools rushing in?

That's interesting, as my 3416 (running Passport) misses shows pretty regularly. The TiVo never misses them, except when an EAS alert interrupts the recording. Since I set my Harmony remote to turn off the TiVo when I'm not using it, that required misfeature has only bitten me once. Before I had it set that way, recordings would crap out pretty regularly.

I have one word for the mass of regulations governing what a CableCARD host must do and can't do: crap.

How safe am I if I use WEP and MAC address authentication? Is that as good as WPA? Thanks.

My 3416 that never misses recording is running iGuide.


The TiVo that missed recordings was using CableCards.

I can't give an honest ratio but I think it's fairly safe to say more people with cable boxes miss programs then people with cable cards. Since I got rid of that god awful SA 8300 I haven't missed a program. I've had a couple of partials because of that EAS thing but I was getting 3-5 partial recordings per week with the SA 8300 and it was totally unreliable if a show didn't come on every week as to whether it would record again or not.

Weirdo, here's something for you to think about. Some say that even when you put your TiVo in standby mode it really isn't down like you think. Want proof? The next time you take that thing off standby see if you don't have a half hour of cached recording on there. If it was truly on standby it shouldn't be recording anything except scheduled recordings), so how does that happen?

I've heard some call it a "placebo" off switch.

No, it isn't. WPA is the safest way to go.

Alright, you talked me into it. I now remember why I didn't use it in the first place - with all the TKIP, AES, ASCI II, passphrases, etc. It was just easier to set up the WEP. Though, it was high time I learned how to set up WPA I guess.

There are a few "options" which are touted as "security features", which are in reality barely effective (if at all). MAC filtering is one, and can defeated extremely easily by anyone with a wireless packet sniffer (they're free and widely available). Disabling SSID broadcasts is another one, which is also minimally effective, and also defeatable by a packet sniffer.

WPA with a non-trivial password is the way to go. Go to THIS SITE , hit refresh a few times, and cut-n-paste the randomly generated "63 random alpha-numeric characters" string into a text file. This is as secure as you're gonna get for WPA passwords. Enter that into your router and wireless client, and you're good to go.

Kind of over kill... there aren't many people doing packet captures in the residential neighborhoods across America.

Linksys wireless router security settings:





ssid, wireless channel, wpa shared key removed/modified to protect the innocent

I doubt many peopel are trying to break into a home owners wireless connection. The basic securityt it offers should protect most people.

Whatever.... Someone asked the question about how to securely set up a wireless network. I was merely lending advice, having developed, installed and designed network equipment for 15+ years. What do I know ?

Administer your network as you see fit. I know my network's safe from all but the most dedicated hackers. Minimizing network security only enables the casual attempts by the novices to be successful.

Paul, your advice is appreciated. I hope you didn't feel insulted and I want to thank both you and optivity for you're advice. I actually went in and set up my own network with WPA now.

I live out in a rural area and I doubt anyone would find my signal except for the two neighbors that I can see who's network is not secure. Like I said I trust them but just in case it's always better to use the best security available.

Thanks, Hook. No sweat...

I also live in a rural area, and I doubt the retired couple who live next door are really into cracking into my net.

I was just trying to lay out a generic, moderately secure configuration for those folks who live in a more densely populated environment. It's pretty scary to see what's available out there for the script kiddies and casual voyeurs out there with just a few minutes of free time and a Google search. Enter "WEP Crack" into Google and see nearly the entire first page of hits littered with advice and tools required to crack a net in no time at all.

At this point in time, where WPA is widely available across the spectrum of wireless gear, its senseless to go without security, or (sometimes even worse) a porous security scheme which lends a false sense of security.

Full Disclosure: Second-chance install took place at noon. It took about 40 minutes. The tech had never done a CableCard install before. I installed the cards; he called in the numbers. 161-4 each time. No problems seen yet. Everything appears to be working right now. I have 8.0.1b; we'll see what happens when I get 8.3.

Doesn't WPA degrade network performance more than WEP?

WPA could hamper your perfomance, but it is still much faster than your internet connection. (well, I guess that depends on your internet connection )

Yeah--I just dumped wireless on all 4 of the devices I was using it on (laptop, Xbox, PS3 and TiVo) and got a >3X increase in download throughput from the net, going from 4.5 Mbps to 15 Mbps from a Cox cable modem.

Well from everything I read you're S3 will probably explode.

Mine seems to work just fine. I will admit to noticeing some pixelation problems with two HD stations: HDnet and MOJO. No problems with anyone else but those two both seem to have some problem. Still it's not enough where I would start a thread and b**ch about it.

I'll hold off starting my own thread until it does explode.

Be sure to take a video of it.

I know it doesn't actually turn the TiVo off, but it doesn't have to obey the channel change command from the headend when an EAS alert comes in since it's not "in use", so it doesn't drop recordings on the floor. That's why I was referring to the idiotic CableCARD requirements that make the TiVo switch both tuners to the channel commanded by the EAS signal.

Of course, it's entirely TiVo's fault that they don't pick the recording back up once the alert is over, just as they do when the power goes out.

Before I figured out that turning it off, putting it in standby, or whatever you want to call it did that, a couple of recordings a week would be interrupted, since I started turning it off, only the one has been, and as I mentioned before that's because someone was actually watching the TiVo at the time of the alert.

BTW, a lot of newer equipment has some decent protection against the usual WEP cracking methods. They make it more difficult to gather the required number of packets to do the decryption. It's still a band aid, though, since if the attacker has patience, they can always wait for natural traffic on the network to provide the required number of packets to recover the key.

I must plead ignorance... What is 161-4, 8.0.1b, and 8.3 referring to?

161-4 is an error code that is returned when the TiVo cannot make contact with the CableCard (because it is being updated by the head-end -- I suppose we use it as a way of knowing the CableCard received the hit from the head-end). 8.0.1b is the version of the TiVo OS that is present on shipping TiVo Series 3 units. 8.3 is the latest version of the TiVo OS.

I remember waaaaay back in the good old days of Windows 3.11 the first time I could remotely access someone's C:\\ drive then modify/delete their autoexec.bat, config.sys, net.cfg files (not that I actually did that) and thinking to myself:

this can't be good.

These days WXP Pro SP2 requires ~60 critical updates to remain relatively secure.

I wonder what happened to those service packs anyway? Well Bill... don't you support your OS anymore?

Not much... just like me with 30 years of IT experience, you're just another "cog in the wheel."