How to Secure Your Wi-Fi Network

Wireless Networking (Wi-Fi) has made to use Internet on your computer, mobile phones, tablets and other wireless devices anywhere in the affected area of that network.

How to Secure Your Wireless Network

Step 1. Open your router settings page

How  to access your wireless router’s settings. Usually by typing in “192.168.1.1” into web browser, and then enter the correct user name and password for the router. This is different for each router, so first check printed router’s user manual along with the box of router.

direct links to the manufacturer’s site of some popular router brands – Linksys, Cisco, Unify Netgear, Apple AirPort, SMC, D-Link, Buffalo, Ruckus TP-LINK, 3Com, Belkin.

Step 2. Create a unique password on your router

After login, the first thing is to secure the network by change the default password of the router to something more secure.

Step 3. Change your Network’s SSID name

The SSID (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 network inherently* more secure, changing the SSID name of  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 router’s settings page. Once this is set, must be sure that you are connecting to the correct Wireless network even if there are multiple wireless networks in your area.

Step 4. Enable Network Encryption

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 break, 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 the Wireless network, open the wireless security settings on 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.

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 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.

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.