satchick
01-19-2011, 08:29 PM
Here are some steps to take to secure your wireless network:
-Change the administrator password: Change the admin password to something hard to guess, but something you will remember. Use both lower and upper case letters, as well as numbers. The default password for most routers can be looked up online, so if you don't change it, someone could access your admin console.
-Change the SSID: Change it to something that doesn't identify your location or equipment. Leaving your SSID as "Linksys" or "D-link" makes it really easy for someone to find out what router you have, so they can look up vulnerabilities.
-Enable wireless security: If all of your hardware supports it, WPA2 is the best, followed by WPA and WEP. WEP is quite weak, but everything supports it.
If you choose to use a passphrase, make it very hard to guess. If you decide to just use a random hexadecimal string, WRITE IT DOWN.
-MAC address filtering: This is another level of security that you can use, it uses a whitelist of MAC addresses that are allowed to connect. If a foreign computer tries to connect, they will be rejected. I personally don't use this, it's annoying when I have guests.
-Disable SSID broadcast: People can't connect to your network if they can't see it, so disabling the SSID broadcast is a very good idea after you have everything set up. Certain programs will, however, be able to identify the presence of a network.
-Change the administrator password: Change the admin password to something hard to guess, but something you will remember. Use both lower and upper case letters, as well as numbers. The default password for most routers can be looked up online, so if you don't change it, someone could access your admin console.
-Change the SSID: Change it to something that doesn't identify your location or equipment. Leaving your SSID as "Linksys" or "D-link" makes it really easy for someone to find out what router you have, so they can look up vulnerabilities.
-Enable wireless security: If all of your hardware supports it, WPA2 is the best, followed by WPA and WEP. WEP is quite weak, but everything supports it.
If you choose to use a passphrase, make it very hard to guess. If you decide to just use a random hexadecimal string, WRITE IT DOWN.
-MAC address filtering: This is another level of security that you can use, it uses a whitelist of MAC addresses that are allowed to connect. If a foreign computer tries to connect, they will be rejected. I personally don't use this, it's annoying when I have guests.
-Disable SSID broadcast: People can't connect to your network if they can't see it, so disabling the SSID broadcast is a very good idea after you have everything set up. Certain programs will, however, be able to identify the presence of a network.