Secure your wireless home network

Believe it or not, there are humans out there active about LOOKING for networks from which they can abduct claimed data. What follows are some basal guidelines to advice you accumulate your arrangement safe from crooked access.

Keep software up to date!

More specifically, accumulate the firmware that is anchored (installed) in your accouterments current! Software is never absolute or bulletproof if aboriginal released! Vulnerabilities are apparent and so patches are appear by the accomplish to bung these aegis holes.

Even if you've just purchased a section of arrangement hardware, be abiding to go to the manufacturers website anon and analysis for updates! Do not accept what’s loaded assimilate your accouterments is the a lot of contempo version! Aegis holes can acquiesce anyone admission to your Internet affiliation and admired abstracts on your arrangement computers!


Change the Administrator password!

The wireless router will appear to you with a absence password. This countersign should be afflicted immediately! Most... if not all... wireless routers leave the architect with the Admin login name and password. I kid you not!

Go to the router’s agreement page and attending for the hotlink or appellation that says Admin. From there, you should be able to change the login name and password. If you accept any trouble, just analysis the manual.

Change your SSID.

SSID or Service Set Identifier is the name of a wireless bounded breadth network. SSID is like a "secret" key that should be set by the arrangement administrator. Every wireless router comes with a absence SSID. However, all wireless accessories on a arrangement accept the aforementioned SSID in adjustment to acquaint with anniversary other. By alteration it to a non-default SSID, you're authoritative it harder for crooked admission to your network.

Turn off SSID Broadcasting.

The SSID broadcasts a arresting (802.11 (Wi-Fi)) which allows anniversary wireless arrangement accessory to allege to one another. But acceptance your SSID to advertisement makes it easier for rogue accessories to be added to your network.

Once you've configured anniversary of your wireless accessories to the exact SSID you specify, about-face broadcasting off!

Enable WEP

WEP or Active Equivalent Privacy, encrypts the abstracts affective to and from your wireless clients. If possible, you should use the arch key possible, 128-bit.

Limit admission by MAC addresses

Every arrangement agenda (both active and wireless) has a different MAC (Media Admission Control) abode assigned by the manufacturer. Set your wireless router to acquiesce admission from alone specific MAC addresses and you'll abundantly advance the aegis of your network. Here's how to acquisition your MAC address... *

Windows NT/2000/XP

* Click the Start button --> click Run --> type winipcfg and click OK.
* Choose your network card from the drop down list.
* Your MAC address can be found in the Adapter Address field.

Once you've determined the MAC address for each of the network cards you're using, go to the manufacturer's site for your wireless router. There you'll want to find information on using MAC address security.