With the world going wireless in every sphere of technology, the
question of security has often been raised. The same is true for
wireless internet networks or Wi-Fi networks with hackers and Wi-Fi
intruders always looking for ways to gain access to unsecured
networks. There are several reasons why you might want to protect your
Wi-Fi network. Prominent among them include better privacy, reduced
internet bills and faster internet speeds.This post contains few
simple techniques you can use to make sure that your wireless network
is as secure as it possible can be.
Protect your Wireless Internet Network
1) Encrypt your Wi-Fi Network: When you use a Wi-Fi network for
accessing the internet, every piece of data you send and receive over
the air can be easily snooped by anyone with the right set of tools.
Packet sniffers can be used by even the most novice of users to sniff
your data. This means that a hacker can not only see which websites
are you accessing but also get the login details of your personal and
professional accounts.
Encryption basically involves scrambling the data that is transmitted
and received by you while using a wireless network. This means that
even if a hacker intercepts your data transmission, (s)he will not be
able to exploit the information contained within it.There are two
encryption standards available that you can use: WEP (Wired Equivalent
Privacy) and WPA (Wireless Protected Access). WEP is the older
standard of encryption and can now be bypassed in a matter of minutes.
WPA is relatively newer but it still has security holes. AirCrack and
coWPAtty are two free tools that allow anyone to easily crack WEP and
WPA encryption using bruteforce technique. WPA2 is the latest standard
and is what you must use if you want the highest level of protection
for your wireless network. The encryption keys used change each time a
device accesses the network making WPA more difficult to hack.
The encryption used by all devices in the network must be the same for
the network to work properly. Your network will only be as secure as
its least secure device. Make sure all devices you use support WPA2
encryption. Use a strong encryption key. Make sure that it is longer
than 10 characters and contains a mixture of capital and small
letters, numbers and symbols. Do not use common words and stuff that
people can guess about you as your password.
2) Replace default passwords on your router with strong passwords: The
biggest mistake most wireless internet users make is not changing
default passwords on their routers. Hackers utilize public databases
that contain default passwords and usernames from virtually every
manufacturer. This enables them to change the security settings of
your router according to their needs. Using a strong password for your
router ensures that hackers and miscreants cannot change your
network's security settings. To change the password on your router,
visit Administration settings on your router's settings page. Also, do
not store passwords in browsers as they can be easily made visible.
3) Change default SSID
Your network's SSID or Service Set Identifier is the name of your
wireless network. Usually, the SSID is the name of the router's
manufacturer along with the model number of the router. Changing it to
not display this information prevents you from giving additional
information about your router to prospective hackers.
4) Do not broadcast your SSID
Hiding SSID prevents unsophisticated and inexperienced hackers and
wifi intruders from determining that your network exists. Hiding your
SSID is relatively easy and the option to do so is usually under basic
wireless settings on your router's settings page. However, it is
important to note that some devices, including those running newer
versions of Windows, will show every network even if they cannot
identify its name. Moreover, your network will still contain the SSID
in data packets making unmasking ridiculously easy with tools like
inSSIDer, Kismet and Commview for WiFi.
5) Use scary names to discourage Wi-Fi theft: If your wireless network
has a name like C:\virus.exe, most people who might otherwise access
your network will not for the fear of getting their devices infected.
You can use your creativity to find more dangerous names for your
wireless network.
6) See Connected Devices List: Almost every new router will have a
page which displays the list of every device that is connected to the
network. You should check this page at regular intervals to see that
unknown devices are not leeching your network. When you see an unknown
device, you can be certain that someone has breached your network. You
can try AirSnare, a free utility which scans your network for
unexpected MAC addresses and also looks into DHCP requests.
Secure Wireless Network
7) Turn off Guest networking: While most routers will have guest
networking disabled by default, it always pays to see that you may not
have accidentally enabled it. Guest networking allows others to access
your network.
8) Enable MAC address based filtering: Media Access Control or MAC
address identifies each device connected to your network. MAC address
is an alphanumeric key separated by colons. Enabling MAC address based
filtering allows only devices having particular MAC addresses to
access your network. You need to enter the MAC address of every device
you wish to allow to connect to your network on your router's settings
page. This prevents unknown devices from connecting to your network
even if they know your password. To find the MAC address of your
computer, open command prompt and execute "ipconfig /all" without
quotes.
While it may prevent inexperienced users from getting access to your
network, experienced hackers and advanced users can use a wireless
network analyzer like Nmap and then change the MAC address of his
computer with another free tool MAC Shift.
9) Keep your firmware up to date: Router vendors regularly release
firmware updates and post them on their websites. You should
occasionally check the manufacturer's website to see if a new firmware
update has been released. Newer routers will automatically inform you
when new firmware is available.
10) Reduce wireless signal range: If you reduce the range of your
wireless network, common sense tells that it will prevent hackers
located at a distance from detecting your network. This has the
advantage that if hackers do not know that a wireless network exists,
they will not try to break into it. You can place your router at
places which would block the Wi-Fi signals. While this technique is
advantageous, a hacker keen on hacking into your network will just
have to use a larger antenna to pick up your router's signals.
Moreover, reducing the range of your wireless network might cause
troubles for genuine users.
11) When not using your internet network, turn it off: This is self
explanatory. If you are not using your network, turning it off saves
you from giving extra time to hackers to try and hack into your
wireless network. While it may be impractical to turn off your network
every time you are not using it, it still is advisable to do so during
extended periods of non use.
If you follow all these techniques, your Wi-Fi network will be a lot
more protected and hackers will have a tough time breaking into it.
