7 Steps to Securing your Home Wireless Network

The benefits of home wireless network are amazing. From the ability to be out in the backyard working while the kids are swimming in the pool, to not having to run cables all throughout the house for your network connectivity; the list of benefits are outstanding. I wouldn’t go back to a wired home network unless I absolutely had to.

However, what many people may not realize is that a wireless network can be an open door to others having full reign on your personal data.

A few simple steps can be taken to provide the best method of security on your home wireless network.

Use this as a guide for building a new home wireless network, or as a way to take inventory of where your existing home wireless network stands.

1) Router/WAP Password

As soon as you get your Router / WAP (Wireless Access Point) immediately change the password. Most of the common Router/WAP products today will have default passwords assigned that are well known and publicized. Choose a strong password for this device.

Here are a few tips on choosing a good password:

• It should be at least 6 characters long
• It should have a mixture of upper and lower case characters
• It should have a mixture of numbers, characters and/or punctuation marks
• Try to use uncommon words for your password

2) Protect your Wireless Network with Encryption

Always use WPA-TKIP encryption. Wifi Protected Access (WPA) is the new security standard adopted by the Wife Alliance consortium. The older “WEP” encryption has many weaknesses. Using WEP is like closing the door but not locking it.

You will need to be sure that both your router/WAP support WPA-TKIP as well as all of the wireless network interfaces on all of the devices attaching to your wireless network (Desktop, laptop, printer, etc). Some of the older network cards may only support WEP. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to better card.

3) SSID Best Practices

The SSID can be thought of simply as the network name. You should be sure to change this name from the default name that came with your router/WAP. Making the name something that is not common is a good practice.

You will likely also have the option of either broadcasting or not broadcasting your SSID. The most secure method for a home network would be to NOT broadcast the SSID. It just makes it that much more difficult for a hacker to gain entrance to your network.

If you do not broadcast your SSID you will just need to manually configure the SSID properties on your client computers.

4) MAC Address Filtering

Some router/wops have the ability to set it such that only specific network hardware addresses can have access to utilize your home wireless network. This is done by specifying the exact “physical hardware address” (or, “MAC address”) of the Wireless Network Interface card on the machines you want to give access to.

While this might not make sense if you have a lot of people randomly coming over and wanting to connect to your Wireless network, it certainly gives you an added step in a tightly secured wireless network.

5) Static IP Addresses vs. Dynamically assigned IP Addresses (DHCP)

DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) is a tool that allows your router/WAP to assign you an IP address automatically. This does come in handy when you have multiple people on a network that may be constantly coming and going.

However, on a typical home network things are pretty static and there generally isn’t much of a need for DHCP. Turning DHCP off will provide a more secure wireless network environment. With DHCP on there is the possibility for a hacker to allow your router to assign them an IP address and gain access to your network.

When you turn off DHCP you will need to manually assign a static IP (one that does not change) address to all of the computers that will need to use your Wireless Network.

6) Utilize the Firewall Features of your Router/WAP

Most Router/WAP devices today come with a Firewall feature that can either be enabled or disabled. Be sure the Firewall Feature is enabled. It surprises me how many people miss this very basic step.

7) Do not connect to any other open Wireless networks

I know it can be tempting at times to search for other available wireless network and connect to them for internet connectivity. The truth is, unless you have been given specific rights to do this, it is illegal practice. Not only that, but when you join your computer on another wireless network you become a target for others on that network to hack into your computer.

Following the above 7 steps will do you a lot of good in a world where hackers strive to find weaknesses to exploit.

Related articles

• 7 Steps to Securing your Home Wireless Network | DIGITAL LIFE – http://www.cubesquare.co.cc (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
• 7 Steps to Securing your Home Wireless Network | DIGITAL LIFE – http://www.cubesquare.co.cc (techanytime.wordpress.com)