How to Secure Your Wireless Network

The good news is that it is not very hard to
make your wireless network secure, which will
both prevent others from stealing your internet
and will also prevent hackers from taking
control of your computers through your own
wireless network.
Here a few simple things that you should to
secure your wireless network:

Step 1. Open your router settings
page

First, you need to know how to access your
wireless router’s settings. Usually you can do
this by typing in “192.168.1.1” into your web
browser, and then enter the correct user name
and password for the router. This is different
for each router, so first check your router’s
user manual.
You can also use Google to find the manuals
for most routers online in case you lost the
printed manual that came with your router
purchase. For your reference, here are direct
links to the manufacturer’s site of some
popular router brands – Linksys, Cisco ,
Netgear, Apple AirPort , SMC , D-Link , Buffalo ,
TP-LINK , 3Com, Belkin .

Step 2. Create a unique
password on your router

Once you have logged into your router, the
first thing you should do to secure your
network is to change the default password* of
the router to something more secure.
This will prevent others from accessing the
router and you can easily maintain the security
settings that you want. You can change the
password from the Administration settings on
your router’s settings page. The default values
are generally admin / password.

[*] What do the bad guys use – This is a
public database of default usernames and
passwords of wireless routers, modems,
switches and other networking equipment. For
instance, anyone can easily make out from
the database that the factory-default settings
for Linksys equipment can be accessed by
using admin for both username and password
fields.

Step 3. Change your Network’s
SSID name

The SSID (or Wireless Network Name) of your
Wireless Router is usually pre-defined as
“default” or is set as the brand name of the
router (e.g., linksys). Although this will not
make your network inherently* more secure,
changing the SSID name of your network is a
good idea as it will make it more obvious for
others to know which network they are
connecting to.
This setting is usually under the basic wireless
settings in your router’s settings page. Once
this is set, you will always be sure that you
are connecting to the correct Wireless
network even if there are multiple wireless
networks in your area. Don’t use your name,
home address or other personal information in
the SSID name.

[*] What do the bad guys use – Wi-Fi scanning
tools like inSSIDer (Windows) and Kismet
(Mac, Linux) are free and they will allow
anyone to find all the available Wireless
Networks in an area even if the routers are
not broadcasting their SSID name.

Step 4. Enable Network
Encryption

In order to prevent other computers in the
area from using your internet connection, you
need to encrypt your wireless signals.
There are several encryption methods for
wireless settings, including WEP , WPA (WPA-
Personal), and WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access
version 2). WEP is basic encryption and
therefore least secure (i.e., it can be easily
cracked*, but is compatible with a wide range
of devices including older hardware, whereas
WPA2 is the most secure but is only
compatible with hardware manufactured since
2006.
To enable encryption on your Wireless
network, open the wireless security settings on
your router’s configuration page. This will
usually let you select which security method
you wish to choose; if you have older devices,
choose WEP, otherwise go with WPA2. Enter a
passphrase to access the network; make sure
to set this to something that would be difficult
for others to guess, and consider using a
combination of letters, numbers, and special
characters in the passphrase.

[*] What do the bad guys use – AirCrack and
coWPAtty are some free tools that allow even
non-hackers to crack the WEP / WPA (PSK)
keys using dictionary or brute force
techniques. A video on YouTube suggests that
AirCrack may be easily used to break WiFi
encryption using a jail-broken iPhone or an
iPod Touch.

Step 5. Filter MAC addresses

Whether you have a laptop or a Wi-Fi enabled
mobile phone, all your wireless devices have a
unique MAC address (this has nothing to do
with an Apple Mac) just like every computer
connected to the Internet has a unique IP
address. For an added layer of protection, you
can add the MAC addresses of all your
devices to your wireless router’s settings so
that only the specified devices can connect to
your Wi-Fi network.
MAC addresses are hard-coded into your
networking equipment, so one address will
only let that one device on the network. It is,
unfortunately, possible to spoof a MAC
address* , but an attacker must first know one
of the MAC addresses of the computers that
are connected to your Wireless network before
he can attempt spoofing.
To enable MAC address filtering, first make a
list of all your hardware devices that you want
to connect to your wireless network**. Find
their MAC addresses, and then add them to
the MAC address filtering in your router’s
administrative settings. You can find the MAC
address for your computers by opening
Command Prompt and typing in “ipconfig /all”,
which will show your MAC address beside the
name “Physical Address”. You can find the
MAC addresses of Wireless mobile phones and
other portable devices under their network
settings, though this will vary for each device.

[*] What do the bad guys use – Someone can
change the MAC address of his or her own
computer and can easily connect to your
network since your network allows connection
from devices that have that particular MAC
address. Anyone can determine the MAC
address of your device wireless using a
sniffing tool like Nmap and he can then
change the MAC address of his own computer
using another free tool like MAC Shift .

Step 6. Reduce the Range of the
Wireless Signal

If your wireless router has a high range but
you are staying in a small studio apartment,
you can consider decreasing the signal range
by either changing the mode of your router to
802.11g (instead of 802.11n or 802.11b) or
use a different wireless channel.
You can also try placing the router under the
bed, inside a shoe box or wrap a foil around
the router antennas so that you can somewhat
restrict the direction of signals.
Apply the Anti-Wi-Fi Paint – Researchers
have developed a special Wi-Fi blocking paint
that can help you stop neighbors from
accessing your home network without you
having to set up encryption at the router level.
The paint contains chemicals that blocks
radio signals by absorbing them. “By coating
an entire room, Wi-Fi signals can’t get in and,
crucially, can’t get out.”

Step 7. Upgrade your Router’s
firmware

You should check the manufacturer’s site
occasionally to make sure that your router is
running the latest firmware. You can find the
existing firmware version of your router using
from the router’s dashboard at 192.168.*.
Connect to your Secure Wireless
Network
To conclude, MAC Address filtering with WPA2
(AES) encryption (and a really complex
passphrase) is probably the best way to
secure your wireless network.
Once you have enabled the various security
settings in your wireless router, you need to
add the new settings to your computers and
other wireless devices so that they all can
connect to the Wi-Fi network. You can select
to have your computer automatically connect
to this network, so you won’t have to enter
the SSID, passphrase and other information
every time you connect to the Internet.
Your wireless network will now be a lot more
secure and intruders may have a tough time
intercepting your Wi-Fi signals.

Who is Connected to your
Wireless Network

If you are worried that an outsider may be
connecting to the Internet using your Wireless
network, try AirSnare – it’s a free utility that
will look for unexpected MAC addresses on
your Wireless network as well as to DHCP
requests. Another option is that you open your
router’s administration page (using the
192.168.* address) and look for the DHCP
Clients Table (it’s under Status > Local
Network on Linksys routers). Here you will see
a list of all computers and wireless devices
that are connected to your home network.
*It is also a good idea to turn off the router
completely when you are not planning to use
the computer for a longer period (like when
you are out shopping). You save on electricity
and the door remains 100% shut for wireless
piggybackers.
**If you ever want to let a new device
connect to your network, you will have to find
its MAC address and add it to your router. If
you simple want to let a friend connect to
your wireless network one time, you can
remove his MAC address from the router
settings when he or she leaves your place.