Securing your Home Wireless Internet Network.

** Read disclaimer Below **

No matter whether you live in a big city or a quiet town, if you have a Wi-Fi
connection in your home then you should try to secure it from intruders. A home
Wi-Fi connection is basically a home wireless router or other wireless device,
such as a wireless modem, to connect your computer or computers to the internet
in your home. The problem with not securing your Wi-Fi properly is that anyone
could possibly "jump" on your internet connection and use it for whatever they
want. This means if someone in your neighborhood, or even someone sitting
outside in their car, decides to use your wireless connection to look for kiddie
porn on the internet you may be the one left "holding the bag". In other words,
if a person uses your connection for this purpose and the police investigate,
they may end up beating down your door and confiscating your computers because
the IP address was generated from your internet service provider (ISP).

This scenario, of course, is just the tip of the ice burg on why you need to
secure your home Wi-Fi connection. Besides allowing anyone to use your
connection for whatever purpose they see fit, they may also be able to track
your activity or even assess the personal files on your computer. So how can the
typical home owner take steps to secure their Wi-Fi without hiring an expert and
paying them for time spent? This is actually easier than you think. There are a
few steps you can personally take to help secure your connection, but keep in
mind that nothing can be secured 100%.

First of all, if you are using a wireless router, the router should have come
with either a paper instruction booklet, a CD with a digital instruction
booklet, or both. Which ever version you have the information that was sent with
the router needs to be read thoroughly. Sometimes the information sent by the
router company can be overwhelming and you may not be sure if you have done
everything or even have done it correctly. So to begin, after reading through
the instructions locate the router address. This should be a series of numbers
that you can enter into Internet Explorer, as a website address, in order to log
into your router configuration settings. The typical address for a router will
look something like 192.168.0.1. Even though it does not look like a regular web
address, it will connect you to your router's configuration site.

Once you plug in the address, there should be a log in that pops up for your
router. If you did not change this during installation it is normally "Admin"
for the user name (without the quotations) and either "admin" or "password" for
the default password (again, minus the quotations). If this is not the default
for your router then it will be listed in your instruction book or you actually
did change it during setup and so you need to use the password you created at
that time. If your password was the default password, then I would highly
suggest changing it by going to the Administrator Settings section or the Tools
section of the configuration screen. There should be a section that would
display your administrator password, but by default most routers will have this
area blank until you pick a password that you want to use. Remember, if you put
in a password please either commit it to memory or write it down in a place that
will be hidden from prying eyes. Also, remember to select "save settings" if you
have added or changed a password.

The next step is to see if you are broadcasting a SSID, or a Service Set
Identifier. This is the name that shows for your wireless router if you were to
look for the available wireless connections in your area. Most routers will set
the product name, such as Linksys, as the default SSID. Some people change their
SSID when setting up their router for the first time, which is okay depending on
the name you choose. However, this means that your Wi-FI connection is shown to
anyone within range, as well as the type of security you use to protect it (such
as WEP or WPA encryption). The best bet for better security is to not broadcast,
or show, your SSID at all. This means that only you will know that it is there,
unless someone has a software program that they may use to show all wireless
connections in an area. The vast majority of people will not have this software
so by not broadcasting your SSID you already have an advantage on securing your
Wi-Fi.

So how do you not broadcast your SSID? You will need to check your instruction
manual again, but with most routers it will be listed under the "Wireless
Network Settings" section. With some routers, such as D-Link, you can still use
your SSID name so you see it, but by selecting "Invisible" for visibility status
nobody else can see your SSID being broadcast. This does not mean that you can't
add more wireless connections, such as another computer, in the future. You
would have to simply add them manually and then once added the new device will
be able to see the SSID as well. So basically your SSID is still there, but only
you and whoever you give access to will be able to see it; except for the
limited amount of people that may be running various programs, like I covered
earlier.

So now that you have a password and you are not showing that you have an actual
wireless connection, there is one last step to take for basic home Wi-Fi
security. The next and last thing you should check, while still in your router
configurations, is the type of security encryption you have in place for your
router. Most new routers give you an option of WEP, WPA, and WPA2. The best
encryption you can use is WPA or WPA2 because it gives you the option of using
any configuration of numbers, letters, and symbols as your password; plus the
passwords are longer. In general, WEP is a lot easier to break and has been
proven in the past that a 10 character key can be broken in under 60-seconds.
Here is an example of the difference in encryption keys: you can have a password
for WPA/WPA2 that is 64 characters long and includes anything you want to use,
but a WEP password is limited to certain numbers and letters and can only be
around 10-13 characters and up to 26 characters if you are lucky.

All you have to do is check your encryption key settings, which should be found
under the wireless network settings where you went to change your SSID. If your
encryption is showing as WEP, I would highly recommend changing it to WPA or
WPA2 and setting a very strong password as well. The password for WPA/WPA2 is a
longer password so I would recommend writing it down and putting it in a safe
place that is out of sight. Also, keep in mind that once you make changes to
your router's configurations and save them, the router will want to "restart".
Once you change your encryption password and the router "restarts", you will
need to go to your network settings under Control panel and change the password
for your Wi-Fi connection so it matches the new encryption password. To do this,
go to Control Panel, Network Connections, right-click on Wireless Network
Connection and select Properties. From there click the Wireless Networks tab at
the top. The "preferred networks" box should have your connection, or SSID,
highlighted. Once highlighted click the Properties button which will bring you
to the Encryption key information for your Wi-Fi connection. Under the
Association tab select the proper Network Authentication type (WPA, WPA-PSK,
etc), then select the Data Encryption type (AES or TKIP), and finally type in
the password you just created in the Network Key section as well as the Confirm
Network Key section. Finally go to the Connection tab and make sure the "Connect
when this network is in range" box is checked. Finally click OK to close the
window and you should be ready for your router to connect by using the new
encryption key but not broadcast your SSID to everyone.

That is basically it in a nutshell. By taking a few basic steps you have now
successfully made your home Wi-Fi connection more secure from intruders and
prying eyes. OF course this is just the beginning since there are boundless
other security features available for home wireless connection use, but this is
a great place to get started. From this point on you can feel more comfortable
knowing that your wireless home connection is not being shared unknowingly with
people that could be using it for malevolent practices. You may now sleep a
little easier at night.

*Disclaimer: This article is for informative purposes and those that follow the
instructions given without decent knowledge of what they are doing will be held
solely responsible for any mistakes made. Each router is different and the user should read the instructions that came with his/her equipment before making various changes to their system. If you are not comfortable with changing your encryption key or anything else listed in this informational article, then please seek the help of a professional first. I will in no way be held responsible for any problems you may create or mistakes you may make on your own part.*