How to Secure your Wireless Network
Today, almost every house and business in the nation is equipped with wireless internet. Unfortunately, though the low cost and easy set up of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are beneficial to most; the widespread use of wireless networks allows network intruders to take precedence over unprotected WLANs. To prevent these unwanted intrusions, take these simple precautions that will strengthen your security and reduce the risk of wireless hacking.
- Secure your wireless router and access point with a password. Many people skip this step and leave their network accessible by anyone in the vicinity. Even more people use the password feature but use passwords that are embarrassingly easy to guess. Think of a secure password that will prevent unwanted users with unwanted intentions.
- Don’t broadcast your Service Set Identifier (SSID). This way, when you or anyone near you goes to connect to a wireless network, the name of your network and the option to connect to it will be invisible.
- Enable Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption instead of Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP). WEP encryption has many weaknesses that make it extremely vulnerable to hackers. WPA is easier to use and provides much better protection. If you have a Windows XP or modern hardware, the WPA support is most likely built in. However, if your wireless device only supports WEP encryption, the protection it provides is still better than nothing. Choose a complex encryption key and change it often to get optimal protection.
- Use Media Access Control (MAC) filtering for access control. MAC addresses are unique to specific network adaptors, enabling you to limit network access to systems you approve. To use MAC filtering, enter the 12 character MAC address of the systems you approve to connect to the network. While this may be inconvenient, it builds a strong wall of protection against intruders.
- Lower the power of your WLAN transmitter. Reducing the range of the signal reduces the perimeter the signal reaches so outsiders won’t have as good a chance of connecting.