Can a wireless network be monitored?But I have no IP address!??

Question

I am going to a place.I love to download and chat and surf a LOT.

But since I have no ip while using the wireless network..is it possible for anyone to monitor me?If so how is it possible?Will a authorized network(most probably) be monitored?And what about a unauthorized network.I'm talking about my windows laptop.

Thanks a lot!I'm really confused.

Answer 1

Sorry but on a wireless network you most definitely have an IP address. All networks be them wireless or wired need IPs assigned to the computers connected to them in order to know where to send data.

Now monitoring a wireless network is easier then a wired network especially when no encryption used in the wireless network.

I dont really get what you mean by an authorized and unauthorized network.

But whatever you mean the answer is yes. All data on ANY network can be hacked, monitored or whatever you want to call it, given suficant time, resources and knowledge.

Answer 2

All of the provided answers are correct. However, I would like to point out that unless one uses a proxy server, their activities are logged by their Internet Service Provider. Granted, it takes a court order to access these records. A lot of proxy sites are hosted out of the country by people and companies of "questionable character". So, using these sites are really not a safe guard.  

Answer 3

i think you have IP but you don't know how to know it.

start=> run

cmd for xp and command for vista.

type "ipconfig /all" without double quote

that will give you IP address which is provide by your router or ISP by DHCP. its not easy to monitor you if your network is secured.

may be this article is usefull to you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_Equiv...

Answer 4

You always have an IP address. Otherwise you wouldn't be connected to a network.

In fact if you have a LAN (wired or wireless), you actually have 2 IP addresses, your external address (the internet one your ISP assigns, which sends data to your router), and your local LAN IP (the one the router uses to differentiate between devices on the LAN).

And yes, it's possible for people to monitor you, especially with a wireless network. With wifi, your communications are broadcast over radio waves. It's not just a straight line from your PC to router, it goes in all directions. Other computers can pick this signal up. If your wifi isn't encrypted, they can read your traffic easily. If you use WEP, they can read it after spending all of 2 seconds breaking the encryption. If you use WPA or WPA2, they pretty much can't read it.

Over the internet, spying is possible if you've got VNC/RDP, malware, or a keylogger installed on your machine.