Configuring Wireless Router Security
A home wireless local area network (WLAN) with your computer may lead to thievery of confidential information and hacker or virus penetration unless proper actions are taken. As WLANs send information back and forth over radio waves, someone with the right type of receiver in your immediate area could be picking up the transmission, thus acquiring access to your computer.
You should consider the following actions when implementing a home wireless network.
Always change the default administrative password on your wireless network router to a secured password.
Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on home wireless network router. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it. Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.
Change the default SSID on your wireless router to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default.
Setup the router so as to not broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually.
Setup your home wireless network router to block anonymous internet requests or pings.
Enable MAC filtering. Deny connection to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. MAC or physical addresses are accessible through your computer device wireless network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point.
Your home wireless network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled. Periodically test your hardware and personal firewalls using Shields Up test available at http://www.grc.com. All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall.
Update router firmware when new versions become available. Finally, the locate router in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building.
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