Hi I am net to being on the forums at this site (been to the site alone many times) and I know this question has been asked at least 1000 times but how do you access a network with out a SSID broadcast? If it doesn't have an SSID broadcast then how are you suppose to access this. I want to make my network more secure and I am wondering how to go about this, please let me know. I'm experienced with networks and have heard about disabling SSID broadcasts on networks but have never bothered to try until now.

The SSID is used to associate the client to the network. Broadcasting the SSID is not necessary, however, because the client can be told in advance what the SSID is. In addition, when the client goes to connect to a WiFi network, the SSID negotiation is in clear text. This keeps the WiFi encryption from blocking the SSID handling, and therefore keeping the association from happening.

I'm running wireless at home with 3 PC's and a Access Point, one PC on the LAN and 2 Wireless, I did not disable the SSID but I set mine up with Static IP's and to only allow the Mac address of these three PC's, and I set up WEP with my own key combination. Another tip is to change the default IP address that your Access Point (router) ships with, cause anyone that has one knows more or less what IP it uses.

true but, if you are even more computer knowledged you would know that the IP of the router your connecting to is the gateway. So newbie network administrators change the router's IP so that others on the network don't try to access the router, I found this out when going to the connections icon and looked, then realized that the gateway IP is the router's IP. When you attempt to connect to a wireless network unless hidden, the network broadcasts the gateway's ip so you can get on the internet which is why it's kinda useless. About the SSID, the thing is the option to disable it like the line below it to write it is invalid. Like you have the text {linksys} and then below you have an option for disable or enable.

Using kismet, if you sit there long enough you will get a valid IP off of the network. So, changing the IP means nothing.

@goku2100, I don't understand your response about the invalid line. You can type in whatever you want, and then "cloak" the access point. All this does is keep the access point from broadcasting the SSID to make it easier for clients to find it. However, while it isn't being freely broadcasted it *can* be found when a client negotiates its connection with the WAP. If someone is sniffing the connection, it will pick up the name of it (however, by then it will probably have the MAC, which is first, and then the IP of the WAP). If you can, switch to WPA as soon as possible to protect yourself. In addition, if using preshared key, use a minimum of 20 characters for the key. The newest thing is to guess the keys used in WPA-PSK rather than directly breaking the encryption. If you use a strong key (>20 characters with mixed case and symbols) you should be set.