Out of band network card working while computer is off? WOL settin

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dareys

To whom it may concern,

I have been wrestling with the following quetsion for some time now, but
recently while interacting with a third party software vendor they made a
statement that got me back to trying to figure the issue out.

The statement was:

¨Often on today's computer there is a second network card that runs out of
band or active even if the computer is turned off.¨

I stated something like:

¨I would think that this functionality would be possible even with a single
network card provided that the Wake On Lan Option for the card be enabled. I
know that the computer has an internal battery for the clock and such things
so it would be possible to activate the computer through the network card¨.

Can somebody please comment on all this and tell me how to prevent
activation of the computer when it is powered off.

Thank you.

Jean-Pierre
 
dareys said:
To whom it may concern,

I have been wrestling with the following quetsion for some time now, but
recently while interacting with a third party software vendor they made a
statement that got me back to trying to figure the issue out.

The statement was:

¨Often on today's computer there is a second network card that runs out of
band or active even if the computer is turned off.¨

I stated something like:

¨I would think that this functionality would be possible even with a single
network card provided that the Wake On Lan Option for the card be enabled. I
know that the computer has an internal battery for the clock and such things
so it would be possible to activate the computer through the network card¨.

Can somebody please comment on all this and tell me how to prevent
activation of the computer when it is powered off.

Thank you.

Jean-Pierre
Click to expand...

The comment you attribute to a vendor makes no sense.

You are correct that some network adapters can be configured to "Wake on
LAN" if used in a computer where the BIOS also permits this.

You can check in the properties of your network adapter(s) and the BIOS
to ensure that any such features are disabled, but the most certain way
to prevent someone physically distant from your computer from turning it
on is to plug the computer into a switched power strip/surge protector
and turn off the switch after you power down the computer or simply
disconnect the computer from the mains power by pulling the plug.


--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
 
Lem,

Thank you for the response.

This was the first thing I thought of but not a good guess. After some
research, I found out that, apparently, because of the battery, if the
network card is configured for WOL (Wake Up On Lan), a MAGIC packet can be
sent to it to activate it.

According to the article I read, there is a lot of ¨FREE¨software out there
to do just that...

In any case, should this be true, even if you plug the computer into a UPC
and then power that down I don´t think it will make a difference. You can
still send the MAGIC packet, activate the Network card, and then power up the
PC.

If you stretch this line of thought a bit more, and the Network card is
enabled for Wireless access, witouth encryption, it is likely that someone,
conceivably as far as one hundred feet away could do this. Talk about hacking
somebody right?

This is why I have posted this question. I am hoping somebody can
confirm/deny all this, and if true, indicate how I can protect myself against
this type of intrusion.

Thank you.

Jean-Pierre


that if the computer has a network card that is configured for WOL, even if
the power is of
 
dareys said:
Lem,

Thank you for the response.

This was the first thing I thought of but not a good guess. After some
research, I found out that, apparently, because of the battery, if the
network card is configured for WOL (Wake Up On Lan), a MAGIC packet can be
sent to it to activate it.

According to the article I read, there is a lot of ¨FREE¨software out there
to do just that...

In any case, should this be true, even if you plug the computer into a UPC
and then power that down I don´t think it will make a difference. You can
still send the MAGIC packet, activate the Network card, and then power up the
PC.

If you stretch this line of thought a bit more, and the Network card is
enabled for Wireless access, witouth encryption, it is likely that someone,
conceivably as far as one hundred feet away could do this. Talk about hacking
somebody right?

This is why I have posted this question. I am hoping somebody can
confirm/deny all this, and if true, indicate how I can protect myself against
this type of intrusion.

Thank you.

Jean-Pierre


that if the computer has a network card that is configured for WOL, even if
the power is of
Click to expand...

The only battery in most desktop computers is a coin size cell that's
completely inadequate to do anything other that run the clock oscillator
and maintain the CMOS.

The power the run the "Wake on LAN" function comes from the power supply
and would be unavailable if the power strip is turned off OR the rocker
switch many manufacturers provide on the power supply (on the back of
the tower) is turned off.
 
RobertVA,

Thank you for the response. I was aware that the battery would provide power
for the Clock and CMOS but you are right in that it might be too small to
power the whole machine. Even if it did, it probably would not last very long.

The thing that got me was that I have personally seen a room full of
machines be powered on remotely but then, they where plugged in to the power
supply.

Regards,

Jean-Pierre
 
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