Does harmful "hacking" make me mean?

[Turboaaa2001]

So heres whats up. Today before I left for work I was bored and decided to mess around with my wife's computer (WinXP)

I looked at what wireless networks were in range and found a new one that popped up. It is an 802.11G Linksys router and I was so far away that I got a 1Mbs (128KBs) connection.

So I first connect and try to connect to his computer (according to DHCP he had 1 computer connected through WiFi) However his computer must have been turned off or he had it at work.

I then connected to his router using default credentials
User: Admin
Pass: Admin

I changed his SSID from "Linksys" to "I hacked your router!!!"
Then I changed his password from "Admin" to "666"
I then decided to erase all his internet settings so that even if he got in he would still need to enter the information.

My wife is really upset with me and says that I'm mean and I needed to change everything back. Of course I didn't because people need to learn to listen when people tell them to secure their networks.

So many times have I gotten a response such as "I don't care if someone uses my internet" or "I have a password on my computer".

Now, if I find a network that is unsecure I take it down but not steal info. This is a teaching tool to either get "those kinds" of people to get secure or to abandon tech all-together.

Would you consider this "evil", "bad", or mean. Vote above and/or voice your opinion.

[-Ghost9-]

i'm sure that person is probably wondering what happened, but yeah, you're a prick.

[ltk5]

I won't go into any deeper philosophy... just one question.

Who gave _you_ the right to mess with other people's property?

[cmat]

I've been pulling jokes like that for a while. No one gets hurt and everyone has a good laugh. As long as it's not malicious. And you do it to people that can take the joke.

[Lord Illidan]

Yes, you're a prick.

What you should have done is go to him with the information you got, and scared the guts out of him. Maliciously changing his settings makes you look like a prick.

[Adamant1988]

No, it doesn't make you mean, but it does make me wish I knew who you were so I could report you to the authorities.

If you want to teach someone to secure their network, why don't you send them a message of some kind rather than screwing with their router?

What you did was immature, and stupid.

Also, it fails to make you '1337' in any way shape or form, signing into someone's router using default pass and all that is well.. easy. I honestly wouldn't consider this 'hacking', most script kiddies could do better.

[bigyoy]

well in this case I would say you did him a favor. It's a bit of an ethical grey spot as you shouldn't have changed his settings but it's better that you stopped at what you did and now someone else can't do it. If you knew the guy then you should have told him.

The funny thing is, I bet he will think the "I hacked your router" belongs to someone else and will be wondering where his ""Linksys" one is!

[~LoKe]

That was a jackass thing to do and it gives hackers a bad reputation. What's worse is you didn't even hack it, you just walked in and screwed around.

If I walk into your room and delete all your files and go "haha, I'm just teaching you a lesson: make backups next time", would you think it's all good and cool?

[tdrusk]

Why would you do that? That person just wanted to have a wireless network. It would be like someone going up to your car and slashing the tire to teach you you should always have a spare. Just leave people alone.

[Tomosaur]

Well for one it's illegal, and two yes you're a prick. It's none of your business whether someone doesn't take full security measures except when that person's negligence causes harm to you. The right thing to do would have been to tell your neighbour that you noticed his network wasn't secure, then offered to secure it for him.