My parents have some important files on their computer for their small buisness. I would like to use my wii on the internet, but they are worried about hackers and such going through my wii onto their computer. Is their any possibility of this happening?
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The connection from your Wii to the internet is outbound, not inbound. Also, a Wii is a pretty closed-up little device and isn’t much of a target.
Their PC is vastly more susceptible in any case, and having the Wii on your network will not affect the PC or its security one way or the other.
Advice for your folks:
1 — Create a non-administator account for their day-to-day use.
2 — Create an account and place it in the “Administrators” group to use for installing software and hardware only.
3 — Rename and disable the built-in Administrator account on the computer.
4 — Make sure they have a GOOD internet firewall that does Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI). The Netgear WGT624 is a decent one for home use (it’s about $60) but they may want to consider a lower-end Watchguard or SonicWALL if they’re really serious about security. Those cost a few hundred dollars.
5 — Make sure that the PC is always up-to-date, and not just Windows patches but every app on the PC, especially those that connect to the internet.
6 — Sign up with a good online backup outfit such as Mozy Pro or Carbonite and make sure that any important files are always backed up. Either of these products makes that completely easy. Cost is around $50/year and may save their business if something happens to the computer. Hard drives fail pretty regularly on computers that are used a lot.
7 — Any wireless networks should be at least WPA-protected for encryption and if there is indeed sensitive data you should also do ‘MAC address filtering’ which will only allow wireless connections from devices you have given explicit permission for.
8 — Make sure the computer has good antivirus and good anti-malware / anti-spyware, and make sure they are up-to-date and configured correctly.
Having a Wii on the network is the least of their worries. Tell ‘em I said so
Comment by strangef — December 9, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
The major issues are:
1. Internet speed decrease because of the Wii demand; this can be reduced by not using Wii during the business use hours.
2. Potential hacking by intruders. This is a threat to all users, regardless of the presence of a Wii on the LAN. The best solution to minimize this is to install a high quality router, not a low end home grade router. Products made by Cisco, Adtran, Nortel, which are commercial grade are substantially more robust than the low end home grade units like D Link, Netgear, Linksys, etc.
3. Non-secure wireless LAN. If you have a LAN it must be secured with a WPA or WPA2 with a strong preshare key and MAC address validation as a minimum. If you have a wireless LAN and it is not secured as mentioned herein, this is the most severe risk you have and it is not because of the Wii since anyone can hack in and access LAN devices.
4. Business files co-mingled with non-business files and no security of the files on the pc. Use of passwords, screen saver passwords, and NTSF file restrictions will greatly minimize the risk of hacking.
Comment by strangef… — December 9, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
Two Answers:
1. Yes, anything is ‘Possible’. If its connected, then there is a way.
2. Although it may be possible, the question to ask is how ‘probable’ is it. If you do the following, you should be OK.
First. Your parents PC should already be using usernames and passwords to log on, if not I would do that first.
Second. Your internet connection will need to have a secured router in place between the modem and the connecting devices… parents PC and your Wii.
Now as long as your parents PC and the router use the security features available… you should not be worried about using the internet connection for your Wii.
If you need to know how to make sure that their PC and the router are secure, you’ll need to post more information about each one.
Comment by GTB — December 9, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
No nothing really bad will happen, the worst thing that might happen is, if the Wii is being used online while the computer is, the internet might slow down a bit because the wii is using some of the bandwidth, but if the wii isnt online and you go online on the computer, the speed will be normal. And no, hackers can’t go through your Wii onto your network.
Comment by GigabitD — December 9, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
no their is no chance of this happening the wii is impossible to hack it isnt a standered computer it would take a long time and effort to hack it and hackers are usually impatient as long as the computers have a fire wall you are compltely secrued if they are still worried get an antivurus program like norton and you will be fine
Comment by decon110 — December 9, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
The access point for any hacker would be at the router not the Wii so there should be no more risk than what already exists. The Wii also requires encryption to connect so you may find that it could help rather than hurt, in case they are not currently using any encryption.
Comment by link5530 — December 9, 2009 @ 4:42 pm
No way. It cannot happen at all through a wii. Basically a computer has an IP address but a wii does not. So that how there is nothing to worry about.
Hope this helps you
Comment by randob1 — December 9, 2009 @ 4:42 pm