Wireless Router & Security: A Step-By-Step Guide
by: Brian Medini
Setting up a wireless router is easy. Essentially you turn your cable or DSL modem off and your wireless router on. Then, you connect the router to the modem with a cable, and turn the modem back on. You are more or less done. The wireless network wizard on your computer will pick up the router and, if your ISP does not have any special requirements, away-you-go, you are on the Internet.
For ease of setup and configuration, manufacturers ship wireless routers with all security disabled. Therein lies the problem. If you do not take any further steps to secure your router, and a surprising number of people don’t, your network will be wide open to all passersby and strangers. It’s like you’ve hung out a sign, “The door is open. Please come in and help yourself.”
The problem is not that strangers will be able to use your router to access the Internet but that, without further protection, would-be intruders will be able monitor and sniff out information you send and receive on your network. Malicious intruders can even hop on to your internal network; access your hard drives; and, steal, edit, or delete files on your computer.
The good news is that it is relatively easy to secure your wireless router. Here are three basic steps you should take.
1. Password protect the access to your router’s internal configuration
To access your router’s internal setup, open a browser and enter the routers setup URL. The URL will be specified in the manual. The URLs for D-Link and Linksys routers, two major manufacturers of wireless routers, are http://192.168.0.1 and http://192.168.1.1, respectively.
For Linksys routers, leave the user name blank and type “admin” (without the quotes) in the password field and press enter. To change the password, simply click on the Password tab and enter your new password.
For other routers, please consult your manual. Alternately, you can search on the Internet with the term “default login for ”. Don’t be surprised to find quite a number of pages listing default login parameters for many different routers, even uncommon ones.
2. Change the default SSID (Service Set IDentifier)
The SSID is the name of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). All wireless devices on a WLAN use SSIDs to communicate with each other.
Routers ship with standard default SSIDs. For example, the default SSID for Linksys routers is, not unsurprisingly, “Linksys”. As you can see, if you don’t change the default SSID of your router a would-be intruder armed with a few common SSIDs from major manufacturers will be able to find your wireless network quite easily.
To change the SSID, click on the Wireless tab. Look for an input item labeled SSID. It will be near the top. Enter a new name for network. Don’t use something like “My Network”. Use a name that is be hard to guess.
3. Disable SSID broadcast
Wireless enabled computers use network discovery software to automatically search for nearby SSIDs. Some of the more advanced software will query the SSIDs of nearby networks and even display their names. Therefore, changing the network name only helps partially to secure your network. To prevent your network name from being discovered, you must disable SSID broadcast.
In the same screen that you changed the name of your network, you will see options for SSID broadcast. Choose “Disable SSID” to make your network invisible. Now save all your settings and log out.
Since your wireless network is now invisible, you will have to configure your computers to connect to your wireless network using the new name. On Windows XP, start by clicking on the wireless icon in the Notification Area and proceed from there.
With these three steps, your network now has basic security. However, if you keep sensitive information on your computers, you may want to secure your wireless network even further. For example, you can
- Change the channel your router uses to transmit and receive data on a regularly basis.
- Restrict devices that can connect to the router by filtering out MAC (Media Access Control) addresses.
- Use encryption such as WEP and WPA.
As with most things in life, security is a trade off between cost (time, money, inconvenience) and benefit (ease of use). It is a personal decision you make. However for the majority of home uses, the three basic steps plus WEP/WPA encryption provides reasonably strong security.
Turning on encryption is a two-step process. First you configure your router to use encryption using an encryption key of your choice. And then, you configure your computer to use the encryption key. The actual process of configuring your router for encryption varies from router to router. Please consult the router’s manual.
There are even stronger methods for ensuring security. A strong and robust security method is RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service). Using RADIUS requires additional hardware and software. However, there are companies that offer RADIUS security as a subscription based service. The fees are reasonable and dropping.
Therefore for example, if you run a business on your wireless network, have sensitive data on your computers such as credit card information, and have a number of users who access your network, you should consider using RADIUS. Since the service sector for RADIUS is dynamic and growing, a search on the Internet with terms like “RADIUS subscription” or “RADIUS service” is probably the best way to locate one.
Wireless Internet Terminology - Confusion Or Clarity?
by: Kevin Erickson
Wireless Internet Terminology, like many things in life, especially those that have anything to do with computers is filled with terminology. But like most things, once you learn a few of the basic terms, understanding will come quickly. So don't be confused get informed and to help clarify, I've put together a basic wireless "internet-to-english" guide to help you along.
IEEE - The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The IEEE is in charge of the wireless networking standard, as well as many other computer-related standards - including the Ethernet standard. They ensure that computer equipment made by different manufacturers can work together.
PCMCIA - Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
Simply another standard for how to plug credit card size devices into a laptop computer to boost it's capabilities. It's been suggested by some that it should stand for "People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms". PCMCIA is a great way of adding wireless networking to your laptop as easily as inserting a disk.
PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
Used to install devices like graphics cards and network devices inside your computer. You would be using a PCI, if you wanted to install a wireless card inside your computer.
802.11
Set by the IEEE, it's the current wireless networking standard. It helps ensure that wireless devices can communicate with one another or in other words - they are interoperable.
Interoperable
Simply means that two different pieces of equipment have the ability to speak to each other or another way to put it - they are compatible. They can use them together because they were designed using the same standards. Because of the IEEE and the principle of interoperability, all wireless equipment you purchase should be compatible.
Driver
Not a piece of golf equipment but computer software that informs a computer how to talk to devices that plug into it. Most wireless networking drivers come on a CD-ROM. You then download the drivers from the CD onto your computer.
Ethernet
Currently, the most common way of connecting to a LAN or Local Area Network. Most wires connected to your computer today are ethernet and if you have a cable internet connection an ethernet wire is in all likely-hood, what is being used to connect to your modem.
USB - Universal Serial Bus
A port used for connecting all sorts of devices to a computer, including keyboards, a mouse, printers, external hard-drives and basically anything else you can think of. If you don't have a laptop or want to open up your computer you can get a USB wireless device.
WEP - Wired Equivalent Privacy
No longer used because in 2001 it was found to have security issues. As a result, it is now the old standard for encrypting wireless networks.
WPA - WiFi Protected Access
The new standard for encrypting wireless networks. An upgrade of WEP to fix security issues. To avoid becoming vulnerable, a WPA encrypted network changes encryption methods often. In addition, if an attack is detected, it has the ability to shut itself down for thirty seconds.
PAN - Personal Area Network
A network of devices connected together in one small area. A simple example of a PAN would be your computer, USB keyboard and mouse. Using a technology called Bluetooth, a PAN can be wireless.
LAN - Local Area Network
Briefly mentioned above, LAN is a computer network that... generally speaking is confined to one building, such as a home or office. A wireless LAN is also known as a WLAN.
MAN - Metropolitan Area Network
A network that covers a larger area, like a city or town. They are expensive but a wireless MAN has the capacity to spread Internet access across a wide area. Many college universities set-up a MAN to connect the entire campus.
WAN - Wide Area Network
A network that covers or connects to more than one physical site. A simple example would be a business that has locations in different cities, states or countries and they need them each location connected on the same network. The Internet itself is a WAN... the biggest WAN in the world.
Mbps - Megabits Per Second
Not to be confused with MBps, megabytes per second. Mbps is measurement of connection speed. There are eight megabits in a megabyte.
GHz - Gigahertz
One gigahertz is one billion cycles per second... it's a measurement of frequency. If the term sounds familiar it's probably because it's also used to measure the processing speed of the CPU on your computer, which is also measured in gigahertz.
Linux
A popular and growing alternative operating system to Windows. Linux is a less bulky, more efficient operating system in many ways than Windows and not to mention - it's free. Many servers run Linux for this reason. Computers running Linux can run many programs and connect to the Internet without needing Windows. Many wireless devices run Linux or are compatible with it.
This article was posted on December 19, 2005
Take Your Laptop For A Walk On The Wireless Side
by: Laramie Cahill
Wireless internet access is truly the wave of the future and depending on where you live the future could be now. Wireless "hotspots" really are popping up somewhere on a daily basis. Not that I'm complaining, because having the ability to access the internet via a wireless connection is a great convenience and allows you to "Take Your Laptop For a Walk on Wireless Side".
On the other hand, even though there are thousands of "hotspots", they don't always get a whole bunch of publicity. However, if you were to do a search for "hotspots" in your town you may be pleasantly surprised. You may have thought that there weren't any in your area but if you live in even an average-size city then it would be more of a surprise if you didn't find a few "hotspots".
Another alternative would, of course, to do a search for "hotspots" or "wireless hotspots". There are a ton of websites you can go to and find "hotspots". One "hotspot" that is generally considered to be on the most comprehensive is www.jiwire.com. You can search for local "hotspots" from the JiWire website or could simply type your zip code into Yahoo Maps and choose 'WiFi Hotspots' from the menu located on the right side of the screen.
Another option would be to check out the nearest Starbucks. They are literally everywhere and almost all of them offer wireless internet access in at some part of the store. Borders and Kinko's are also pretty good bets and if all else fails... keep a watchful eye out for a local cafe or simply ask around a little bit and someone should be able to point you in the right direction.
Small Wireless ISP Fee
You may find that some of the larger hotspot networks with multiple, convenient locations require that you pay a small fee to a wireless ISP to access through them. In many instances, you can simply purchase a prepaid card at the place where the access is offered so it's really not a big deal. However, if you want to free access your best bet would be to stick to the smaller independent locations.
Why Would a Cafe Offer Free Wireless Internet?
Actually, if you think about it, it's really nothing more than good business. Rather than pay to access the internet in some dingy Internet cafe, you can access the Internet for free in their place of business and while there buy their food and drinks. Cafes are willing to pay the minimal cost of providing wireless Internet access in exchange for the new customers it brings into their business. Especially, in areas where Internet access is hard to come by, any other way. The same goes for hotels and airports: customers see wireless access as an added value and in many instances; they will choose a particular hotel based on this feature alone.
Actually, the real growth area in wireless "hotspots" is in the private sector. Businesses are falling all over themselves to provide free Internet access to their business customers - cafes, hotels and airports are all starting to offer wireless access to anyone who happens to be around. All you need to do is bring in your laptop with Centrino technology or a wireless PCMCIA card.
We've already covered a number of potential public hotspots to take your laptop and go searching for but one that hasn't been mentioned is in reality may be one of first places to check out is your local public library. Public and university campus libraries are increasingly offering wireless access and if you're a student there's a good chance that your whole university campus is wireless enabled - or will be soon.
Hotspot Locator Software
Hotspot Locator Software allows you to create a database of known "hotspots" on your computer that you can search at any time, whether you are online or offline. Simple type in a zip code or the name of a city and the software will come back with the nearest "hotspots"... all sorted by distance from your location. And to make sure that your database doesn't get out of date, each time you access the Internet the software automatically connects to its servers and checks the latest hotspot to your list and if your list if out of date it will download and update your list with the latest information.
If hotspot locator software sounds like something you'd like to take for spin, you're in luck because it's offered for free from many of hotspot providers' websites. T-Mobile Hotspot is currently the largest provider and offers a free download at: http://www.tmobile.com/hotspot.
This article was posted on December 20, 2005
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