Security
Securing Your Wireless Home Network
By Tara Swords
Wireless
networks (WiFi) allow people to connect computers in different parts
of their home so they can work, play, research or email from any
room. But the next time you do your online banking from the sofa or
email from the porch, consider this: Is anyone else looking at the
data you’re sending through the air?
Unless
you take precautions, your neighbors -- or even hackers lurking
nearby --might be watching your every online move.
“An
open and unsecured network can be accessed by anyone within range
and, further, if communications are not secure, it's possible someone
with malicious intent could intercept emails or even view private
files and records,” says Danielle Yates, communications
director of the Internet Education Foundation.
There
are weak points in home WiFi networks. Here's how to strengthen them
1.
Give your network a unique ID The service set identifier (SSID)
is the name you see when you look for available wireless connections
with your laptop. Most wireless routers power up with a default name
for your network, such as “linksys” or “default.”
The problem with leaving your SSID set to its default name is that
other people in your neighborhood might do the same thing -- so you
can’t be sure that the network you’re surfing is your
own.
Scott
Lowe, author of Home Networking:
The Missing Manual, says this is particularly dangerous if
your computer is set to share files with other computers. “If
you join the wrong network and you do have things shared," Lowe
says, "you open up your computer to anybody else on the
network.”
Changing
your SSID is simple: Check the manual that came with your router or
visit the Web site of its manufacturer for instructions.
2.
Turn on data scrambling Most wireless routers are now capable of
encrypting -- or scrambling -- the data they send and receive. The
data is encoded when it's transmitted through the air, and your
computer and your router have unique "keys" to unlock and
decode the data you receive. To someone snooping on your network
without the encryption key, the data you send and receive looks all
jumbled.
Different
routers, however, offer different types of encryption. There are
three kinds in use today: Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2), Wi-Fi
Protected Access (WPA), and WEP. WPA2 is the most secure and WEP is
the least. “WEP can be cracked within seconds now, and there
are free tools that can do it in a heartbeat,” Lowe says. “WPA
takes quite a bit more work than that." WPA2, however, is the
strongest level available.
Check
with your router’s manufacturer to find out what type of
encryption your router supports. When you buy a router, it should say
on the box if it supports WEP, WPA or WPA2.
3.
Filter out computers that aren’t yours Once you turn on
data encryption, your network will allow other computers to join only
if they have the correct key. A media access control (MAC) address
filter adds another layer of security by creating a list of specific
computers that are allowed to join the network. Think of it like a
bouncer at an exclusive party: If your name isn’t on the list,
you can’t get in (even if you know the name of the host).
Every
device that can get on the WiFi network has a unique MAC address. You
can choose which devices to admit by creating a whitelist on your MAC
address filter -- your PC, your spouse’s laptop, maybe a
wireless print server, etc. The filter blocks any other computers
Turning
on the MAC address filter isn’t hard, but all routers work
differently so consult your router's manufacturer.
4.
Use separate logins If a few people use your computer, give them
each a separate login. “My kids have a non-administrative
account on my computer,” Lowe says. “So if anybody does
happen to hack into the computer when the kids are online, they will
only have access to the kids’ stuff.”
No
amount of security is impenetrable, but these basic measures can help
secure your WiFi network -- and your reputation. “If you don’t
secure your wireless traffic, people can sit close to your house and
get your bank account numbers as you’re logging in to your bank
account, or hijack your connection to do illegal things, like
download child pornography,” Lowe says. “That puts the
innocent people at risk because it will be their connection that’s
associated with this illegal activity.”
