How to Secure Wireless Networks
Wireless networks are abundant. Whether for casual home use or serious home office use, these networks should be secure to protect your personal and business data. A wireless network that is not secure could be open to a multitude of attacks. Even a harmless person trying to share bandwidth with you can drastically slow your network performance. You can take steps to secure your wireless network and prevent that from happening.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Use a strong admin user name and password, rather than the default password, for the wireless router. Weaker passwords can allow administrative access to the router, potentially compromising the entire network.
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2
Change the SSID of the router. The SSID is the name of the network that appears when someone looks for wireless networks in the area. Typically, routers come with default SSID names. Change your router's SSID to a name that has no reference to the type of equipment you're using. If a hacker gets the name of the type of equipment, such as Linksys, he may be able to break into the network by knowing the "chinks" in that brand of equipment.
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3
Secure the wireless router with strongest possible encryption. WPA is stronger and more secure than WEP, and WPA2 is stronger than WPA. Use WPA2 or WPA if your router gives you the option.
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4
Disable SSID broadcast. This will prevent your router from showing up when someone is searching for WiFi access in your area. If SSID broadcast is disabled, a potential user will have to know the SSID and manually type it to connect to your network.
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5
Enable MAC address filtering. Routers allow you to list the network card addresses of the computers that are permitted to connect to the network. This secures the wireless network from unknown computers.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Disable remote administration. Most routers disable this by default. Never allow the wireless router to be remotely administered.
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