Free Wi-Fi security guide
Wi-Fi security
1. For the paranoid , use a cable connection Ethernet or USB to hook up the AP ( access point ) with your computer. wireless connections can be eavesdropped.
2. Set a system password , to prevent an intruder from manipulating the AP enter a system password to protect the device. Enable password protection, do NOT use the default password (eg. Administrator ) as these are usually the most obvious ..
3. Change the default SSID , a client has to the the network address ( also called the SSID - in some cases it simply is SSID. Some manufacturers use their own brand name as the SSID (eg. Belkin ) , these are easy to guess so you should set a new one. Try not to use words that can be found in a dictionary as they can be loaded into malicous applications designed to "crack" the SSID. Do not forget to change the SSID of all clients that connect to the WLAN
4. Disable SSID broadcasting , changing the SSID alone does not help most AP's are set to broadcast their SSID for configuration purposes on instal this is useful but this way anybody the SSID of your WLAN too, they just have to sit outside your house/nextdoor ( within range ) and listen to the radio traffic being broadcast so disable the SSID broadcasting or publishing as it's sometimes called.
5. Turn on encryption , anyone with the time can get past all security mentioned so far the only real hurdle is encrypting the data that goes over the wireless network. Encryption scrambles the data transferrd so that an intruder cannot dechiper it under normal conditions. There are 3 main types of encryption methods for WLAN's these are : WEP , WPA and WPA2. WEP is the least secure of these WPA2 is the strongest so therefore if all your client machines support it, it is prefferd most older machines dont support WPA2 without an upgrade .. if you have the choice between 64 bit WEP encryption or 128 bit , 128 is the prefferd choice as it's harder to crack.
6. Turn on Mac filtering , another way to block unwanted users from your WLAN is to enable Mac address filtering. Each network device has it's own unique Mac address ( media access control ) through which it can be identified. Every datagram sent by a device sends it's mac address along with it , if you want to keep out devices that don't belong to your WLAN enable Mac filtering on your AP and add only those Mac address's you wish to grant access to .
7. Block changes through UPnP , some network devices support universal plug and play UPnP. Through this interface UpnP enabled software may change settings over a remote connection .
8. If the WLAN isn't being used turn it off !
9. Enable the inbuilt hardware firewall !
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