Wireless Internet: Keeping Your Connection Secure

Wireless routers and network adapters have become affordable and easy to set up. As a result, wireless networks are sprouting up all over the neighborhood. With installation being reduced to running a simple wizard and assigning your access point a name, people often overlook enabling the security features on their routers.

Wireless signals don't stop when they reach the outside walls of your house. The good news is that you can surf the internet from your front porch or while reclining in your backyard hammock. But the bad news is that neighbors can also get onto your network if you have not taken measures to prevent them from doing so.

While it's unlikely that your neighbors would deliberately hack into your system, destroy data or steal sensitive information, it's still a good idea to restrict access. One reason you might not consider is that many families wish to restrict their children's internet access using the scheduling features of their access point. If your network is wide open, when a teen loses his local connection he can do a site survey [locate networks within range] and connect to an open system thus circumventing their parents wishes. While connecting to a distant network will provide a slow and unreliable connection, to a teen wanting to chat to his friends late into the evening, it's better than no connection at all.

Therefore, it is not only good practice, but good neighborliness to make sure those outside your home cannot connect.

There are several methods of restricting access - each having its own benefits and drawbacks, and not all routers support all features. While this is not intended to be a technical document on how to lock down your network, let me say that the most widely supported and easiest to setup is WEP 64 encryption. This method in essence places a password on your router that any user connecting to it must provide in their connection properties. It can be cracked, but requires effort to do so.

Think of it as a front door. If you leave it open, someone can walk in without effort and argue that you let them in. If you close it, they have to turn the knob but can say you didn't intend to keep them out. But if it's locked, they have to pick it making their entrance a deliberate crime.

One last but very important point: Please change the admin password on your router. Anyone knowing the manufacture of your router can configure and remove any other security features you've enabled. If you need information on how to enable security for your wireless network, please visit the support section of your router's manufacturer.

		Contributor: Wayne Solum
		             1343 Becca Teal Place