About a year ago I did a little experiment for a computer networking class that I was taking at the time where I drove around my town and a neighboring town running a program on my laptop to detect wireless networks. Let me make it perfectly clear, I had no intentions of accessing these networks or eavesdropping on them, it was for research and educational purposes only, to determine how many homes and business’ in my area had unsecured wireless access points. What I found didn’t really surprise me, however, it did frighten me a little. More than fifty percent of the homes and business’s that I detected as having a wireless network, had left their network completely open without any form of security, not even simple WEP encryption. Because of this (and the fact that i’m constantly asked how to secure a wireless connection), I have decided to write this article to help some of you make your connection a little safer.
STEP 1: Log into your router.
NOTE: You will need to have a wired connection to your router to make security changes, changes will not be successful otherwise!
For most routers this is pretty simple, you just have to know what your wireless router’s IP address is. For most people this address will be 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. You will want to open your favorite Internet browser and type this number into the address bar (where you normally type the www. address). If neither of these numbers work for you, you can click on START, than RUN, and type “cmd”. When the black prompt window appears, simply type “ipconfig” and look for the label “Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection”. Below this you will see another label for “Default Gateway” followed by a number. This is the number you will want to type into your browser if neither of the numbers above worked for you. After entering this number in the address bar of your browser, hit ENTER and a login box should appear. Assuming you have never changed the default username and password, you will want to try something along the lines of username: admin and password: admin or username: admin and password: password. If these don’t work for your router, than you have either changed it previously (in which case you will either have to remember it, or reset the router by pressing the small reset button usually located on the back) or you can look at the list on this page and attempt to find the default username and password for your particular brand. Once you have successfully entered it, you will be taken into the main router configuration section.
STEP 2: Find the security section.
In most consumer router interfaces, this will either be listed as its own section or under it’s own tab, or it will be under a tab for general wireless setup. If you look around the interface enough, you should be able to find something along these lines. You will be looking for anything that allows you to set security options such as “WEP” or “WPA”. If you see one or both of these items, you are probably in the right place. If you look at the image that i’ve included, you can see what I mean. This is a sample from a 
Netgear router. Most router interfaces will have something similar to this, though in some cases the encryption type selection may be a drop down list. From here, you will want to select your level of encryption.
STEP 3: Selecting and implementing your level of encryption.
A lot of computer users who have just purchased a new wireless router and decide to secure it tend to stick with simple WEP protection, however this is generally not a good idea. Why? WEP can be cracked with freely available tools in under 2 minutes if you know what you are doing. If you are in an area where most everyone around you is fairly computer illiterate, than this probably won’t pose a problem, however if you’re in a high traffic area or a dorm or something similar, you may want to consider using WPA or WPA2 encryption which is stronger. In reality, both of these types of encryption can be cracked, but if you are using WPA and your neighbor is using WEP, an attacker will likely go for the easier target…..unless of course they are really out to get you. At this point, depending which type you choose, you will either have to enter a passphrase or you will be given a network key. For WPA, you will want to enter a long passphrase, usually at least 8 characters in length. You will likely be given the option to choose an algorithm type such as PSK, TKIP, AES or even TKIP+AES. Personally, I use WPA-PSK and don’t have too much trouble with it however this is not the most secure of the options (for that, choosing WPA2-TKIP + AES would be best). I would go into detail about what each of these algorithms mean, but that is way too much detail for this guide. If you choose WEP, you will be given the option for either 64bit or 128bit, you should choose 128bit! In either case, WRITE THE KEY/PASSPHRASE DOWN! If you use WPA, you’ll write down the passphrase you entered. If you use WEP you will be given the option as to which network key to use. Pick whichever you like, just make sure you WRITE IT DOWN! You will need to use it again when you try to setup a computer on your new wireless network! After this, you can save your configuration (usually by hitting apply or OK). If your router does use the default username and password, you will want to read the sidenote below otherwise you can close your browser, and you’re DONE! Enjoy safer wireless surfing!
There is always the chance that by applying security settings on your wireless network, you will lose connection to the router and/or to the internet. If by chance this should happen or you become locked out of your router and cannot make changes, you can reset it with the small reset button usually found on the back! If all else fails, consult the owners manual for instructions on setting your router back to factory defaults.
SIDENOTE:
If your router is still using the default username and password, you will want to change this. In order to do this, look for a tab or section in your router interface such as the “Set Password” link that is shown in the example image above. Sometimes this will be included under general wireless settings. Again, make sure you write this down and keep it somewhere safe in case you need to access your router in the future, which you likely will need to do at some point!
Hopefully this guide has been helpful. Keep in mind that nothing is ever 100% secure and I can obviously not guarantee that this will completely secure your wireless connection, however it is better than nothing. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and i’ll try to get back to you.
Technorati Tags: wireless security, secure wireless connection, secure wlan, wlan security, wep, wpa
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