Who knows how government hackers work?

[The Backlash Cometh]

When I got back from vacation I experienced trouble with my laptop and described the problem as such:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=242x35014

Basically, the screen would go dark though the computer appeared to be functional.

Another thing I noticed after returning, was how quickly my laptop would connect to my wireless. Before, I would have to wait several minutes and put it through diagnostics to get the IP address. But it seemed to get smarter while I was on vacation--except for the problem that the screen would go dark.

Well, two things have happened since then. The first was that the screen doesn't go dark anymore. The problem fixed itself.

The second has to do with a new wireless that appeared that was never there before. This isn't a very populated area and I'm familiar with the other wireless' in the area, but a new one flashed for just a few seconds before my computer picked up my wireless. I haven't seen the new wireless since and it was named: FLORIDA.

Does any of this sound like there may be someone hacking in the area?

[ChromeFoundry]

1. Doubtful

most mobile phones can now function as wireless hotspots. If you want to monitor the wireless, download a utility that will gather the information on a one-second interval and optionally store the information in a database or spreadsheet... MetaGeeks inSSIDer is an excellent free utility to do just that...

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

You'll be surprised how many wireless networks are in range... in my area, usually 52 in the b/g/n (~2.4 GHz spectrum). This is exactly the reason I switched to a dual-band that supports the a/b/g/n + 5 GHz spectrum.

Do you really have a reason to believe that the government needs the secret information off of your laptop? If so, let me know; I have a few options for you to make your network and laptop more secure and able to monitor for intrusion detection.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. I absolutely do need better security.

Who doesn't?

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Very, very cool! I found the FLORIDA SSID. Though I'm not sure

there's much more to learn except that they're running Netgear.

There's also an hpsetup which doesn't seem to offer much more information.

[hobbit709]

4. FLORIDA is probably just the name someone gave their SSID

hpsetup is cropping up in a lot of places, near as I can tell it's the default on a wireless HP printer.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Thanks hobbit!

[ChromeFoundry]

6. All new HP Notebooks

...have an ad-hoc personal wireless network broadcasting with the SSID of 'HPSetup'.

Haven't used any of their printers to see if the printers send out the same beacon.