
Quote: Originally Posted by
MvdB
Weird... I'm not sure but can't you limit the devices your router accepts by limiting MAC addresses it allows? (to only your own systems/printers)
It will not stop it. If I had been paying attention when I was reading for Network+ as well as checked my Belkin routers firewall log- I'd have had it figured out without haveing to go WTF.
MAC address controls will not work because this is a protocol being fowarded and not actual physical connections to the router.
Most ISP's isolate their users from eachother so creepy things like this don't turn into service calls, police reports, customers feeling insecure and quitting their service, ISP techs realising what they can do and abusing powers, ect. This ISP however does not take their customers seriously and I've only been with them 3 months and I'm wishing I had the security deposit for the phone company or that my complex would let Time Warner in. This actually is a very big security issue. Even if they somehow had accessiblity between the users blocked- it could still lead to a local bored kid haveing a field day at some point.
The Belkin router is examining the traffic and thinking "I am just connected to a switch connected to another router- this traffic belongs." and fowarding it because belkin has yet to fix this in their firmware on this model. While the users don't have a Local IP, they are still listed by windows and linux- albeit unaccessable at this time. A good way to think of it would be going into work where there is a big lan, and connecting a switch to a ethernet socket in the wall. It's basically the ISP is treating the area as a LAN instead of an isolated WAN.
There is only 4 fixes here. 1.Install a cheap router with no real job except to "route" out the SMB packets and isolate the Belkin from the larger WAN. (cheapest)
2.Get a diffrent ISP who takes their customers seriously. (smartest)
3.Hope belkin takes the hint and updates their firmware. (im praying)
4.Buy a hardware based firewall (zywall, sonicwall, ect.) and place that between the modem and the Belkin router. It would be nearly the same as doing #1 but with added features, a smaller box, and thus a little more woth a few milliseconds of latency. (expensive but worth it).