Wireless Broadband Network Security

Some of you may not be old enough to remember this first hand, but you will be able to imagine the luxury of getting your first television with - wait for it - a remote control. No more having to expend that "oh-so-valuable" energy just to change channel! Soon everybody had remotes and, fitness fanatics aside, I doubt the majority of people would have any other way.

Wireless networks are being adopted in a similar fashion. For the standard home setup, it's just not convenient to have Ethernet network cables draped all over the place just to get your computers all hooked up to broadband internet. This is particularly so if your computers are more than a few rooms apart. And as for mobile computing (laptops), well, once you've tasted wireless broadband it is hard to live without.

Just as the adoption of the remote control made everyone fat (of course), so the adoption of wireless networking has made people's information vulnerable. Almost anyone with a good wireless laptop, that doesn't live in the middle of nowhere, will find there are normally a few wireless networks in range. More dangerously, they may also find that the networks are not protected and open to abuse. So what do you do to protect your wireless access points and networks?

You have already changed your router's username and password from the default, right? If you haven't then this is the first thing you must do. There are lists available to enable any would-be hacker to simply look up your router's make and model and then enter the username / password combination from the list. Changing the username and password to something sensible (a combination of letters and numbers) is a simple first step for security.

Many people think that simply having WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) enabled is enough to protect their wireless broadband network or access point from intruders. Let it be known that this is not enough. Any kid using Linux and a suitable bit of software can crack your WEP security in a timely fashion. However, it is still a good idea to have it turned on and to have 128-bit encryption selected. It may not be a solid security measure, but it will stop your neighbours from tapping into your wireless network by making things that little bit more difficult.

Unless you're using your home wireless network in unusual circumstances, you will probably only have a few computers that connect to your wireless network. It is easy to setup a list specifying exactly which computers should be able to access your network. This is like a door list at a party where anyone that isn't mentioned on the list will not be let in.

Every wireless network card will have what's called a MAC address assigned to it. A MAC address is simply a unique code that identifies a particular piece of hardware - in our case, a wireless network card. You can find the MAC address of your network card by opening the windows control panel, then double click on network connections and right clicking on the network card that's used to connect to your network. Then select the 'support' tab and click on 'Details' button. You will see the MAC address listed as the 'physical address' and it is a 12 character code separated by a hyphens between every two characters. Example: 00-09-5B-5A-2F-FC

By collecting the MAC addresses of each of your computers in this manner, you will be able to setup a list of "allowed connections" at your wireless router. If any computer tries to connect to the wireless network that doesn't have a recognized MAC address, it will simply not be allowed access. It should be noted that MAC addresses can be spoofed, so this solution is not bullet proof.

As a final measure, make sure your computer's file and print sharing is turned off. If someone should happen to breach your first line of defense then this will provide your personal information some protection. To turn off your file and print sharing open the windows control panel. Then select network connections and right click on the device you use to connect to the wireless network and select 'properties.' Uncheck the file and print sharing checkbox and then click the apply button.