Porkchop Technology Review's

Wireless security is important, the convenience of having the ability of using a laptop anywhere around the house and using multiple desktop computers without having to fish wires through walls and make holes and tripping hazards.  I still see wireless security a big problem, doing a local WiFi scan on my PlayStation 3 brings up instantly 5 unsecured wireless networks in the area, or some that are using WEP security which is obsolete.

I want to start off this article by stating that if your wireless router can only offer WEP encryption for security and there is no firmware updates for it for WPA, then toss it.  The reason why I say toss your WEP security router is because WEP is not secure, there are many articles around saying use WEP if its all you got, well I suggest getting rid of the router and replace it with a new updated one that contains WPA, and even better WPA2, routers are cheap, and your security is more important, especially if you do online transactions and have important data on the PC.   Here is an article on how to hack a WiFi router using WEP encryption, you can see how easy it is – http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=2724
Basically think of it as this, you won’t use a virus scanner from 2000 in 2009 it would be outdated and would need to be replaced.

You think why does it matter to secure my wireless network, there a couple good reasons to secure it from access from outside.  One reason is because someone who is on your network can view your network files if you have networking enabled, meaning that the person can view your entire hard drive.  Another reason is someone using your connection, can use it for illegal activity, such as hacking, visiting illegal material, using your IP address to spam forums and emails, etc.  For example someone goes on your wireless network and decides to use an spam email program and bombards many emails around the world, then those people who get spammed, report your IP to your ISP abuse email address and then you get your Internet shut down, and possibly legal action taken place depending on the damages caused, and it will be very hard to prove it wasn’t you who did it. When someone uses your WiFi they could also be downloading/uploading large torrent files, using your computer as a server, causing your Internet to be real slow as well and you not getting what you paid for.

I will describe below a few ways to secure your WPA – WPA2 wireless router as I stated if you have WEP router throw it out buy a new router.

Change the defualt administrator password
Unfortunately router companies use a default password and log-in for their routers, which can be found anywhere on the Internet basically doing a search in Google – for D-Link default router password can get you it in 5 seconds, so changing the network password is important, and make sure its a good password, letters and numbers and make sure its long.  One problem with not changing the password, is that if someone gets into your router, they will probably search in a search engine the default log-in password and try it, if it works, they will add some changes and even possibility shut down your Internet access or configure it to their settings.  And if you do not know this happened you will probably be calling your ISP about it, thinking that the Internet is not working.

Turn on WPA and WPA2
Routers come with this off on default, they are left wide open when you plug everything in, so I suggest turning this on, and using a strong encryption key, which can be found at https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm if that does not work try going to the main page https://www.grc.com/ and click on Perfect password generator. What this does is it creates ultra high security passwords for the wireless router that are pretty much impossible to crack.

Change default SSID and Disable SSID Broadcast
The SSID is the name that appears when you search for wireless networks, routers come default with names usually using the name of the router which then gives the person ways of getting in.  I recommend changing the SSID to random letters and numbers after setting up all the wireless devices then turning the SSID broadcast off.  Turning the SSID broadcast off makes the wireless router hidden from wireless network searches in the area, which greatly improves security.  Since you cannot be found in the search, you are hidden.

Enable MAC Address Filtering
A MAC address is the address of the device being connected, each device has its own address, and enabling in the router settings to only allow the MAC addresses allowed will mean that only those devices can connect.  The problem with this is that there is spoof MAC address programs around, which can imitate the MAC address device in use, the problem with this is that MAC address filtering is not that secure, but when combined with everything else it can help stop the rookie hacker.

Limit the Attena transmitting power and position the router in a central location
Most routers have settings that can disable the transmitting power of the antenna, on default they are usually set to 100% which means that the signal can be picked up by neighbours across the street and next to you.  The best way to do this is to limit the transmit power and find the setting that would be enough for your home.  Also position the router in a central location not near walls in the center of the house.  You basically don’t want your signal to be accessible from the outside.

Disable Wireless Internet
If you bough a wireless router and you don’t use the wireless portion of it, turn it off, there are settings in the router that can turn of wireless completely, and if you are going on vacation turn it off as well or leaving for extended periods of time.

Use a Firewall on each computer and disable sharing
Use a software firewall for extra security, a software firewall will protect you if someone does get into your network, this is if it’s setup correctly and file sharing is disabled.

Do not use insecure wireless networks
If you are currently using free Internet from the neighbor and using his wireless Internet, that is not secure.  This means that the person that has that wireless network open could be doing it on purpose to hack computers that way.  Once you are on someones network, they can pretty much see your files and hack your computer a lot easier.

Update the Router Firmware
Many companies update the router firmware which increases the security and fixes bugs in the routers internal software.  I recommend checking for updates from the routers manufacture website once in a while, for example when I use to own a wireless router, I one time checked for an update and it gave me a new security feature of WPA2, instead of only WPA I only had before.

These are some security tips to protect your wireless network, but at the same time they are not fool proof, even with all this security you can still be hacked by someone.  I personally do not use a wireless router, I use a wired router for security reasons and I have no need for wireless.  So if you do not need wireless Internet I suggest not getting it, this will make you 100% secure.  When you buy a wireless router do these steps, it sounds like it takes time, but in fact its quick the next time you have to do it, I have setup many wireless networks for friends and family and secured them this way and they have never had any problems.

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