Securing Your Wireless Network

A wireless network allows you to connect a mobile device, such as your laptop, to your home network through a wireless access device. It can be easy to do, and very convenient. However, wireless connections can cause a potential threat to your home network, and your personal information. It is important that you know how to properly secure your network against unauthorized individuals.

On November 16, 2009, KIVI-TV featured a special news story detailing the potential dangers of leaving a wireless network open. Before you read our wireless network tips below, we encourage you to watch the news story.

Please note that each computer and wireless access device is different. Some devices do not include the following options. The following suggestions are intended to give a broad explanation of how to secure your wireless network.

Change Default Settings

Every manufacturer ships their wireless access devices with a default user name and password. As soon as you set up your device, these default settings should be changed to something only you know.

WEP Encryption

WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) is one of the easiest ways to secure your home wireless network from the outsiders. It works by creating a 64-bit or 128-bit password key. This key is then shared on your mobile device, giving that device access to your wireless network.

64 bit encryption

This is a very easy technique that uses a ten digit alpha-numeric key as a password. This password is used to authenticate access from a wireless device to your wireless access device. This encryption will help prevent outside access, but can be very easy for hackers to decipher. However, this is the easiest and fastest way to secure your wireless network.

128 bit encryption

This is also a very easy technique used to secure wireless network. The 128-bit encryption uses a twenty six digit alpha-numeric key password for authenticating access to your network. This encryption is very difficult to break.

WPA/WPA2 encryption

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is a very secure technique used to encrypt a wireless network. WPA uses a passphrase, which is more secure than WEP, based on how the traffic is encrypted through random keys that are automatically generated. The passphrase is setup within the wireless access device. The same passphrase is used to authenticate the mobile wireless device to gain access to the wireless network.

The passphrase periodically changes the encryption code that allows access to your wireless network. If a hacker is able to access the temporary key on your network, they will still be unable to break in without the passphrase. Essentially, it’s like having two passwords, with one intermittently changing.

Rename and Hide the SSID

Every wireless network has an SSID (System Set Identifier). The SSID is also referred to as the network name. It is never a good idea to use your name or address when naming your wireless access point. It may reveal too much about to whom the wireless network belongs. It is best to use a generic name such as, “Our House”, or “Wireless”.

It is even a better idea to hide the SSID. If the SSID is hidden, it is less likely that your wireless network will be compromised by an outsider. It essentially makes your network invisible to neighbors or hackers when they are searching for a wireless network in your area.

To hide your wireless network, access the administrator account on your wireless access device with your user name and password. Find the option for wireless SSID broadcasting and set this to “disable”.

MAC Filtering

A MAC address is a unique hardware identifier that is assigned to every network device. MAC filtering is a process by which you manually enter a list of known MAC addresses onto your wireless access device. These MAC addresses will be the only devices allowed access to your wireless network. This is one of the best ways to protect your wireless network from your neighbors and hackers. The drawback to this method is the initial manual configuration of gathering the MAC addresses of the computers you wish to grant access.

To find the MAC address of the specific computers you wish to allow access to your wireless, you must have access to the specific computer. In Windows from that computer, click on “Start”, go to “Run”, then type “cmd” (without the quotes) and then click “OK”. At the command prompt, type “ipconfig/all” (without the quotes). Write down the physical address (XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX) from the list.

To setup MAC filtering, access the administrator account on your wireless access device using your user name and password. Find the option for wireless MAC Filtering and set it to “enable”. Then look for the option that allows you to enter specific MAC addresses.