With wireless networking becoming the easiest and most economical way to set up a home network, I get lots of questions about how to make sure it’s secure. Here are some tips for securing your wireless router/access point and computers with wireless adapters:

• Change the defaults. Wireless routers come with a preset administrator password and SSID (network name). These are usually the same for all routers of that model, so it’s common knowledge to hackers. A hacker can use that info to change your WAP settings or connect to your network.
• Turn off SSID broadcasting. SSID broadcasting makes your network visible to anyone in the area who has a wireless-equipped computer. Turning it off doesn’t hide it from WLAN “sniffers” but it does keep the neighbors from knowing you have a wireless network.
• Turn on MAC address filtering. This allows only computers whose MAC addresses have been entered by the router administrator to connect to the network. It’s not foolproof since some hackers can spoof MAC addresses, but it provides a layer of security.
• Assign static IP addresses to your wireless clients and turn off DHCP, so that unauthorized persons who try to connect won’t automatically get an IP address.
• Use encryption. And use WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption instead of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). For instructions on how to configure WPA in XP, see:

  Improve the security of your wireless home network with Windows XP