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Home > Wireless Internet > Wireless Network Security

Wireless Network Security

Wireless home networks are everywhere these days due in part to ease of set up and a very low price to get started. This is great for home users who want the use of multiple computers all over their house, however a wireless network has security problems that go beyond the security issues of a single hard-line connection.

Wireless hardware is pretty much plug and play these days, which means users usually get started surfing the Web minutes after set up. It is important to resist the urge to blaze right onto the Internet with your new network and take the time to make sure your home LAN and it's Wireless Internet connection is properly secured. There are many different methods of securing a network including:

• Secure Your Wireless Router
• Enable Encryption
• Limit Router Access
• Disable Remote Administration
• Turn Off Your SSID

This guide will cover each of these methods and provide you with some simple steps for ensuring the security of your wireless home network. Check our previous wireless articles on how to Setup A Wireless Home Network, as well as our guide to WiFi Boosters.

Secure Your Wireless Router

The first step you should follow after setting up your wireless network is to change the default password used to log into the device. Many routers use the default username of Admin and the password is either “password” or “admin”.

This is the very popular Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router. Many people use these in their homes and offices. The default password to make setting changes on this unit is “admin”. If you leave your settings unchanged basically anyone on the Internet can look up your password. The Linksys router above has the default IP address 192.168.1.1. Open up your browser, and instead of entering a www address type in the IP and you will get a user/pass pop up. Leave the username blank and use the password “admin”. This will open up the admin page of your router and let you make many changes, including username and password.

Each router will have its own user/pass default information, and perhaps its own IP, but the Linksys example will be very similar to how they all operate. I myself use a Motorola Wireless Gateway and the IP is the same as above, and the menu is almost identical. It took me about 3 minutes to get the administration information on the Linksys router by going to Google.com and typing in “Linksys Router Manual”. I imagine it will be that easy with any major router brand.

Enable Encryption

All wireless routers have encryption capability, and most offer two different flavors. To encrypt something you basically scramble all the data up so that to use it someone needs the right key to unscramble it. Wireless routers offer WEP and WPA encryption.

WEP stands for Wired Equivalency Privacy, and though it doesn't actually live up to its name its pretty good. A WEP password is traditionally limited to the characters A-F and 0-9, thus greatly reducing the field of possible combinations (from infinite to only astronomical). This limitation combined with the right tools gives hackers an edge, and they can break WEP encryption given time. I use WEP encryption and don't think twice about it, but others may feel they need more security.

WPA stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access and offers more protection than WEP. The possible character usage is increased and the encryption is stronger. All wireless devices available today have WPA capability, but as with WEP it must be turned on.

Log into the admin area of your router again and go to "Wireless Security". There should be an "Encryption" area where you can enable WEP or WPA. Choose one and get it going.

There is a new type of encryption available called WPA2. It's great as well and it is set up in exactly the same way. If you have some form of encryption enabled you will be fine 99% of the time. If it's "that remaining 1% of the time" that you are worried about, then you need to perhaps go ahead and get WPA or WPA2.

Limit Router Access

A wireless router can be set where it will only let specific MAC addresses through. A Media Access Control address (MAC) is a unique identifier assigned to all network adapters and cards (NIC cards). A router can be set to only allow the addresses you assign it which will obviously limit usage.

To find your MAC address using Windows go to the "Start" menu, and then go to "Run". Under "Run" type “cmd”. This will open a command line interface. From there type “ipconfig/all”. You will see a screen very similar to this:

The MAC address of the above computer is the 12 digit Physical Address 00-06-5B-15-04-B4.

You can input a list of MAC addresses that your router will allow, and all other traffic will be stopped.

This isn't a replacement for other security measures as MAC addresses can be spoofed and the router can be fooled. However, this is another layer of protection that will make your network less attractive to outside users.

Disable Remote Administration

Remote administration is a feature of every wireless router, allowing admins to manage their routers from a distance. For home users, this feature really should never be enabled as the administrator (you) is in the building with the router. With remote administration enabled, someone with very little know-how could log into your router and do whatever they wanted too.

Log into the admin area of your router and look for "Remote Administration". If it is enabled disable it. Most routers have remote administration disabled by default, but this is a big enough issue to check and make sure.

Turn Off Your SSID

Every wireless network has a name. This name is called a Service Set Identifier, or SSID. When a wireless router is first connected, the SSID will be automatically broadcast to the limit of the router's power. This is great for setting up a network because the individual wireless adapters can show a user all available networks and the appropriate one can be chosen.

Understand that your network's SSID can be seen by your neighbors if they also have a wireless network set up. Right now, from my home, if I scan available networks I can see three networks including my own. Out of those, only two are secure.

Use your router's IP to log in via the web interface. In the admin section there will be a SSID name. The default name is usually the manufacturer such as Motorola, or Linksys. Change this name to something only you know so you can identify it when setting up new computers on your network.

Under "Wireless Security" there will be an area where you can turn of SSID Broadcast. This won't turn off your network; it will just stop sending out the network name. When setting up computers on your wireless network in the future, it is an easy task to turn the SSID back on long enough to select it then turn it off again.

Turning off the SSID will mean your neighbors won't see your network, but a determined hacker still can. Using software referred to as WLAN Sniffers someone could find your network. That's why following all of the different steps listed in this guide (such as setting passwords and enabling encryption) is still very important.

You can use our high speed Internet access guide to compare Wireless Internet with DSL, cable, fiber optics, and satellite.