technobabble

As someone who has worked in the tech industry for a long time now, one of the many questions I’m asked on a regular basis is for recommendations on home wireless networking equipment. I am always happy to provide tips on equipment to buy, but all to often the requester does not want any further advice beyond what to buy and where to get it. This leaves a very large issue at hand, how to setup your wireless network securely.

The purpose of this guide is to therefore give you the reader what I hope will be plain English straightforward advice on how to secure your wireless network, whether it be a new setup, or one that you’ve had for sometime now. Shall we begin?

As part of this guide I will not cover the various types of home networking devices, or routers, that are available out there. There are so many choices of products from vendors such as Linksys, Netgear and others and it would take several posts just to cover the differences, and specific setups of each. I will instead focus on the common security features that you’ll find in any router available today. If you are searching for comparisons on the various routers, sites such as CNET.com can provide a wealth of information. (technobabble is in no way affiliated with cnet.com).

1. Changing Default Router Login

The first place to start with the setup of any wireless network device is to change the default login information. Each vendor has a default username and passsword that is generally associated with ever wireless device they produce and this information is easily discovered by a quick lookup via any search site. While the steps for changing the login will vary from vendor to vendor, Linksys for example often does not use a user name, just a password while Netgear will use both, the documentation that came with your device will have the steps you need to change the login to something more specific you will know and remember. Changing this information will make it harder for shady characters to access your network. Make note of what your change the login and password to and store it in a secure location in the event you ever need it.

2. Changing Default Network Name

Each wireless network has a name, often labeled as “SSID” in documentation, that identifies your wireless network to devices trying to connect to it. Router vendors will set a default name for their products, often the name of the company making the device such as “Linksys”. While changing this name will not automatically make your network more secure, an attacker that sees a network with the default name will lead to come to the often correct impression that the network is less secure because the owner did not take steps to change any of the default settings. More often than not, a wireless network with the default name will also still be using the default user name and password and therefore be a very easy target. Keep in mind that the name, or “SSID” is case sensitive. If you enter the name in all lower case, the same must be done for any other device such as a PC that connects to it. Be sure to make note of what you set the name, including case, to and store it with the user name and password you modified in step 1.

3. Setting Up Real Security

Each wireless router will provide support for a handful of security encryption protocols. By default, when you setup your router, this feature will be turned off. This is a must do item, by not enabling the security features of your router, you leave yourself wide open to attack even if the previous two steps have been followed.

There are three basic types of security that are available in most of today’s routers. You will often see them labeled as WEP, WPA and WPA 2.

WEP was the first security protocol when wireless networking hit mainstream 10 or so years ago. While it is the most compatible of all the options, it is also the least secure. This is one to avoid if possible unless you are connecting older PC equipment that does not support the two newer options, WPA or WPA2.

Without getting into to much geeky mumbo jumbo, WPA is the predecessor of WPA2, the primary difference being the type of encryption that is used. While WPA2 is more secure the WPA, it is also newer and not supported by some wireless networking devices used in slightly older PC’s. The documentation provided with your PC and wireless router will each describe what each supports, choose the highest common level of encryption for each.

Regardless of the type of encryption chosen, they all will use a “key” or set of characters that connecting devices will use to communicate securely with the router. The requirements of the length of this key will be different for each of the three types of encryption. In general, choose a “key” that would not be easy to guess such as your name. I.E. if your name is John Smith, don’t make your wireless key JSMITH. A good tool for generating your wireless key can be found here. Again be sure to record your wireless key with your new login information and network name and store in a secure place in the event you need to locate it again.

With these simple steps you can ensure your wireless network is secure and much less prone to attack. This essential in today’s world of online banking, shopping and other such activities.