Tips For Securing Your Home Wireless Router

Wireless routers are extremely common these days because of the convenience and flexibility they provide. For the most part a wireless router allows you to connect pretty much anywhere within range without wires. The wireless capable routers are being provided by Internet providers and many times wireless is enabled by default. If you are lucky the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is set so it is more difficult for someone to access your network and steal bandwidth. But, this is about the extent of security that is set by default and WEP has been proven to be easy to crack. Just Google "cracking wep" and you will see several results showing how to crack WEP secured networks.

It isn't enough that it is made simple by the Internet provider to access the wireless network. Wireless Network Interface Cards (NIC) are now standard in most laptops and the operating system will automatically detect a wireless network. Then, walk you through setup process. In essence you could be completely computer illiterate and get onto an unsecured wireless network and possibly be unaware.

There are simple three things you can do to your wireless network to help make it more secure and difficult for people to hijack.

Encryption

Encryption does not allow people immediate access to your network and also keeps data from being sent from computer to router (or vice versa) unencrypted. WEP is very weak, but better than nothing. WPA2 is more secure.

Hide the Service Set IDentifier (SSID)

Hiding the SSID makes it so WAR drivers or neighbors can't just see your network ID by doing a simple network search. Along with hiding the SSID, make it something that is difficult for someone to guess. Preferably something random and completely unrelated to you or your family.

Limiting Access To Specific Media Access Control (MAC) Addresses

Set your router to accept only MAC addresses associated with the computers you want to access your network. This helps keep someone that cracked your encryption and guessed your SSID off your network because the MAC address of the NIC does not match any you have set into the list of acceptable MACs on your wireless network.

These three things can go a long way to keeping your home wireless network secure and not visible to possible hijackers. Keep in mind, that wireless is not all that secure and even with applying the few steps it can take someone who knows what they are doing to hi-jack your wireless network and steal your data in an unencrypted state in less than an hour. So, if you have sensitive proprietary information it is advisable to use software to better encrypt your information before it gets sent across the network.

For step-by-step instructions on how to set and manage these settings please check out WebTechTorial.

Michael Zaun - www.webtechtorial.com

Wireless Router & Security - A Step-by-Step Guide

Setting up a wireless router is easy. Essentially you turn your cable or DSL modem off and your wireless router on. Then, you connect the router to the modem with a cable, and turn the modem back on. You are more or less done. The wireless network wizard on your computer will pick up the router and, if your ISP does not have any special requirements, away-you-go, you are on the Internet.

For ease of setup and configuration, manufacturers ship wireless routers with all security disabled. Therein lies the problem. If you do not take any further steps to secure your router, and a surprising number of people don't, your network will be wide open to all passersby and strangers. It's like you've hung out a sign, "The door is open. Please come in and help yourself."

The problem is not that strangers will be able to use your router to access the Internet but that, without further protection, would-be intruders will be able monitor and sniff out information you send and receive on your network. Malicious intruders can even hop on to your internal network; access your hard drives; and, steal, edit, or delete files on your computer.

The good news is that it is relatively easy to secure your wireless router. Here are three basic steps you should take.

1. Password protect the access to your router's internal configuration

To access your router's internal setup, open a browser and enter the routers setup URL. The URL will be specified in the manual. The URLs for D-Link and Linksys routers, two major manufacturers of wireless routers, are [http://192.168.0.1] and [http://192.168.1.1], respectively.

For Linksys routers, leave the user name blank and type "admin" (without the quotes) in the password field and press enter. To change the password, simply click on the Password tab and enter your new password.

For other routers, please consult your manual. Alternately, you can search on the Internet with the term "default login for ". Don't be surprised to find quite a number of pages listing default login parameters for many different routers, even uncommon ones.2. Change the default SSID (Service Set IDentifier)

The SSID is the name of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). All wireless devices on a WLAN use SSIDs to communicate with each other.

Routers ship with standard default SSIDs. For example, the default SSID for Linksys routers is, not unsurprisingly, "Linksys". As you can see, if you don't change the default SSID of your router a would-be intruder armed with a few common SSIDs from major manufacturers will be able to find your wireless network quite easily.

To change the SSID, click on the Wireless tab. Look for an input item labeled SSID. It will be near the top. Enter a new name for network. Don't use something like "My Network". Use a name that is be hard to guess.

3. Disable SSID broadcast

Wireless enabled computers use network discovery software to automatically search for nearby SSIDs. Some of the more advanced software will query the SSIDs of nearby networks and even display their names. Therefore, changing the network name only helps partially to secure your network. To prevent your network name from being discovered, you must disable SSID broadcast.

In the same screen that you changed the name of your network, you will see options for SSID broadcast. Choose "Disable SSID" to make your network invisible. Now save all your settings and log out.

Since your wireless network is now invisible, you will have to configure your computers to connect to your wireless network using the new name. On Windows XP, start by clicking on the wireless icon in the Notification Area and proceed from there.

With these three steps, your network now has basic security. However, if you keep sensitive information on your computers, you may want to secure your wireless network even further. For example, you can

Change the channel your router uses to transmit and receive data on a regularly basis.
Restrict devices that can connect to the router by filtering out MAC (Media Access Control) addresses.
Use encryption such as WEP and WPA.

As with most things in life, security is a trade off between cost (time, money, inconvenience) and benefit (ease of use). It is a personal decision you make. However for the majority of home uses, the three basic steps plus WEP/WPA encryption provides reasonably strong security.

Turning on encryption is a two-step process. First you configure your router to use encryption using an encryption key of your choice. And then, you configure your computer to use the encryption key. The actual process of configuring your router for encryption varies from router to router. Please consult the router's manual.

There are even stronger methods for ensuring security. A strong and robust security method is RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service). Using RADIUS requires additional hardware and software. However, there are companies that offer RADIUS security as a subscription based service. The fees are reasonable and dropping.

Therefore for example, if you run a business on your wireless network, have sensitive data on your computers such as credit card information, and have a number of users who access your network, you should consider using RADIUS. Since the service sector for RADIUS is dynamic and growing, a search on the Internet with terms like "RADIUS subscription" or "RADIUS service" is probably the best way to locate one.

Brian Medini in association with http://computer-internet.marc8.com Fast reliable wireless router

Protect Your Wireless Network - Lock Down Your Wireless Router

Do you use a wireless network at home to connect to the internet? Do you know whether or not others are connecting to your wireless network without your knowledge? You must protect your wireless network from unauthorized users logging on to the internet through your wireless router. There are multiple ways in which to do this and by following a few simple rules, you can also be comfortable in the fact that your internet connection is safe.

Why should you secure your wireless router?
One of the biggest reasons to secure your wireless router is so that you know exactly who is able to connect to your internet connection and your network. Do you bank online? If a hacker can get his cyber-foot in the door through your wireless router, he can then infect any computer system on your network and steal information such as credit card numbers and online banking usernames and passwords.

Let's say that you do not bank online and don't use your computer for anything other than surfing the internet. If anyone can connect to the wireless router and gain internet access, they can look at and access just about anything. If this person is doing something illegal, the FBI will be knocking on your door and not theirs because the illegal activity came from your specific internet connection.

What can you do to protect your wireless network?
The very first thing that you should do is to enable the encryption over your wireless connection. Currently there are 2 standards of encryption. These are WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or WPA (Wifi Protected Access). WEP is a weaker encryption and for the experienced hacker is easily broken. However if your wireless router does not support WPA (common in older wireless routers), WEP will keep you safe from the casual computer user leeching off of your internet access. You should check the manual for your specific router for instructions on how to do this. They can almost always be found on the manufacturer's website.

Another option that you can use is to enable MAC filtering. A MAC address is like a serial number hard coded into all network devices. When MAC filtering is enabled it only allows the mac addresses of specific devices to connect to your router. Short of someone gaining physical access to the router it is highly unlikely that anyone will be able to connect to your wireless router with this option enabled and configured.

Jake Smith is a Network Analyst for a financial institution. He currently holds 3 associates degrees in Web Design, Network/Information Security, and Network Support. He has over 5 years of professional experience working with computers and networking equipment. He is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Arts and Applied Sciences in Business Administration. For more information on securing your home and business computers please visit http://www.it-secured.com

Protect Your Wireless Network - Lock Down Your Wireless Router

Do you use a wireless network at home to connect to the internet? Do you know whether or not others are connecting to your wireless network without your knowledge? You must protect your wireless network from unauthorized users logging on to the internet through your wireless router. There are multiple ways in which to do this and by following a few simple rules, you can also be comfortable in the fact that your internet connection is safe.

Why should you secure your wireless router?
One of the biggest reasons to secure your wireless router is so that you know exactly who is able to connect to your internet connection and your network. Do you bank online? If a hacker can get his cyber-foot in the door through your wireless router, he can then infect any computer system on your network and steal information such as credit card numbers and online banking usernames and passwords.

Let's say that you do not bank online and don't use your computer for anything other than surfing the internet. If anyone can connect to the wireless router and gain internet access, they can look at and access just about anything. If this person is doing something illegal, the FBI will be knocking on your door and not theirs because the illegal activity came from your specific internet connection.

What can you do to protect your wireless network?
The very first thing that you should do is to enable the encryption over your wireless connection. Currently there are 2 standards of encryption. These are WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or WPA (Wifi Protected Access). WEP is a weaker encryption and for the experienced hacker is easily broken. However if your wireless router does not support WPA (common in older wireless routers), WEP will keep you safe from the casual computer user leeching off of your internet access. You should check the manual for your specific router for instructions on how to do this. They can almost always be found on the manufacturer's website.

Another option that you can use is to enable MAC filtering. A MAC address is like a serial number hard coded into all network devices. When MAC filtering is enabled it only allows the mac addresses of specific devices to connect to your router. Short of someone gaining physical access to the router it is highly unlikely that anyone will be able to connect to your wireless router with this option enabled and configured.

Jake Smith is a Network Analyst for a financial institution. He currently holds 3 associates degrees in Web Design, Network/Information Security, and Network Support. He has over 5 years of professional experience working with computers and networking equipment. He is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Arts and Applied Sciences in Business Administration. For more information on securing your home and business computers please visit http://www.it-secured.com