Protecting Your Wireless Network
With no cables to run around the house, wireless networks are convenient and easy to install, so homes with high-speed Internet access are adopting them at a rapid pace. Because wireless networking works by sending information over radio waves, it can be more vulnerable to intruders. Like signals from your cellular or cordless phones, signals from your wireless network can also be intercepted. Since you can't physically prevent someone from connecting to your wireless network, you need to take some additional steps to keep your network secure.
Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to improve wireless security, and the networking industry is continually working to improve these measures.
Five Steps You Need To Take To Protect Your Wireless Network
Networking makes it easy to share Internet access and data. But you wouldn't want to share your information with just anyone. With a wireless network, your information is traveling through the airwaves, not physical wires, so anyone within range can "listen in" on your network. Here are five essential security measures you should take to secure your wireless network:
1. Change the default SSID
Your wireless devices have a default SSID (Service Set Identifier) set by the factory. The SSID is the name of your wireless network, and can be up to 32 characters. Linksys wireless products use linksys as the default SSID. Hackers know these defaults and can use them to join your network. Change the network's SSID to something unique, and make sure it doesn't refer to the networking products you use. As an added precaution, be sure to change the SSID on a regular basis, so any hacker who may have figured out your network's SSID in the past will have to figure out the SSID again and again. This will deter future intrusion attempts.
2. Disable SSID broadcast
By default, most wireless networking devices are set to broadcast the SSID, so anyone can easily join the wireless network with just this information. But hackers will also be able to connect, so unless you're running a public hotspot, it's best to disable SSID broadcast. You may think it is more convenient to broadcast your SSID so that you can click on it to join your network, but you can configure the devices on your network to automatically connect to a specific SSID without broadcasting the SSID from your router.
3. Change the default password
For wireless products such as access points and routers, you will be asked for a password when you want to change their settings. These devices have a default password set by the factory. (The Linksys default password is admin). Hackers know these defaults and will try them to access your wireless device and change your network settings. To thwart any unauthorized changes, customize the device's password so it will be hard to guess.
4. Enable MAC address filtering
Linksys routers give you the ability to enable MAC (Media Access Control) address filtering. The MAC address is a unique series of numbers and letters assigned to every networking device. With MAC address filtering enabled, wireless network access is provided solely for wireless devices with specific MAC addresses. For example, you can specify only the computers in your house to access your wireless network. It would be very difficult for a hacker to access your network using a random MAC address.
5. Enable Encryption
Encryption allows protection for data that is transmitted over a wireless network. Wired Equivalency Protocol (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) offer different levels of security for wireless communication. WEP is currently the most widely used level of encryption and is supported by more devices than WPA.
Learn more about WEP
WPA is considered to be more secure than WEP, because it uses dynamic key encryption. To protect the information as it passes over the airwaves, you should enable the highest level of encryption that is supported by your network equipment. Learn more about WPA
E-mail us at Info@jrs-wired-wireless.com to learn more.