Creating a wireless network at your house is an excellent idea, it's really easy to do plus it enables you to surf the net conveniently from anywhere at your house.The problem is that lots of people are unaware of the danger that's added when using the home Wireless in an insecure manner.
If you want to protect your WiFi in order to prevent your neighbors from using up your bandwidth, then sure that's a sound cause to protect your WiFi, however it mustn't be your primary worry. The greatest problem with insecure WiFis happens when a hacker is able to connect to your WiFi, if he succeeds on doing that then he can easily read the information that's sent between you and the router and reveal your usernames, passwords or everything else that's sent between your devices, regardless of whether you are using SSL. This attack is known as "Man In The Middle" or MITM and it can easily be performed by even a rookie hacker rather quickly. Securing your Wireless will greatly lessen the chance of this occurring. Almost all hackers that try to get into WiFi's will quickly give up attempting to hack a secure wireless network as there are countless insecure networks out there which provide a considerably simpler target.
All of the approaches that are going to be explained here require that you log in to your access point's user interface and change a few of its options. If you don't know how to do that then go over to your access point manufacturer's web site and look for the guide for your particular model. Try to find information about how to gain access to that router's web interface.
1. Make use of a secure encryption
Using a secure encryption is an essential course of action, this makes certain that you can only connect by using a password. Choosing this options is generally done from the security tab in the Wireless setup menu. You may generally pick from three or four options: Disabled, WEP, WPA, WPA2. You'll want to choose WPA2 or WPA - and absolutely under no circumstances choose disabled or WEP! WEP encryption is an extremely broken encryption algorithm that can be broken in a few minutes by a completely inexperienced hacker. If your router only supports WEP encryption but not WPA then you should replace that router ASAP.
2. Utilize a strong encryption password
I'm certain you hear this phrase a lot "Use a strong password" and numerous people are thinking to themselves that on WiFis it's not too important, new flash - On WiFis it's extremely important to use strong passwords. Its a piece of cake for a hacker to use a program that scans the WiFi for millions of password combinations in mere minutes and crack it. Use at least eight to ten characters and a mixture of numbers, special symbols and letters. Avoid using dates, names or phones numbers - This is the very first thing hackers try.
3. Alter the SSID name
The SSID is the name of your wireless network, it's that name you choose from the list of nearby networks when you try to join. It's recommended that you alter that name and not use the default name. Modify it to a name that doesn't completely reveal who is the one who owns this wireless network, such as your surname - this is especially essential if you're living in a dense population area for instance an apartment building.
4. Restrict the Wifi's range
Restricting the transmit range will decrease the possibility of someone looking to hack your network. In many homes the Wireless may be detected from outside of it and there's generally no reason for this. Limit the transmission range, go outside your property and look to find out if it could be discovered from there. When possible you may relocate your router towards the center of the household to gain optimum coverage without creating blind spots caused by the restricted Wireless network range.
5. Alter the router's interface security password
The router's password is the password you need to type whenever logging in to the web interface. Technically if the hacker can connect to the access point's web interface then it's already too late and the hacker has gained access to the wireless network already, but nonetheless, this is a good precaution step to take and it will limit the control that the hacker has over your wireless network. Modify the password to a one that's difficult to guess and is different than the one used for the encryption.
If you want to protect your WiFi in order to prevent your neighbors from using up your bandwidth, then sure that's a sound cause to protect your WiFi, however it mustn't be your primary worry. The greatest problem with insecure WiFis happens when a hacker is able to connect to your WiFi, if he succeeds on doing that then he can easily read the information that's sent between you and the router and reveal your usernames, passwords or everything else that's sent between your devices, regardless of whether you are using SSL. This attack is known as "Man In The Middle" or MITM and it can easily be performed by even a rookie hacker rather quickly. Securing your Wireless will greatly lessen the chance of this occurring. Almost all hackers that try to get into WiFi's will quickly give up attempting to hack a secure wireless network as there are countless insecure networks out there which provide a considerably simpler target.
All of the approaches that are going to be explained here require that you log in to your access point's user interface and change a few of its options. If you don't know how to do that then go over to your access point manufacturer's web site and look for the guide for your particular model. Try to find information about how to gain access to that router's web interface.
1. Make use of a secure encryption
Using a secure encryption is an essential course of action, this makes certain that you can only connect by using a password. Choosing this options is generally done from the security tab in the Wireless setup menu. You may generally pick from three or four options: Disabled, WEP, WPA, WPA2. You'll want to choose WPA2 or WPA - and absolutely under no circumstances choose disabled or WEP! WEP encryption is an extremely broken encryption algorithm that can be broken in a few minutes by a completely inexperienced hacker. If your router only supports WEP encryption but not WPA then you should replace that router ASAP.
2. Utilize a strong encryption password
I'm certain you hear this phrase a lot "Use a strong password" and numerous people are thinking to themselves that on WiFis it's not too important, new flash - On WiFis it's extremely important to use strong passwords. Its a piece of cake for a hacker to use a program that scans the WiFi for millions of password combinations in mere minutes and crack it. Use at least eight to ten characters and a mixture of numbers, special symbols and letters. Avoid using dates, names or phones numbers - This is the very first thing hackers try.
3. Alter the SSID name
The SSID is the name of your wireless network, it's that name you choose from the list of nearby networks when you try to join. It's recommended that you alter that name and not use the default name. Modify it to a name that doesn't completely reveal who is the one who owns this wireless network, such as your surname - this is especially essential if you're living in a dense population area for instance an apartment building.
4. Restrict the Wifi's range
Restricting the transmit range will decrease the possibility of someone looking to hack your network. In many homes the Wireless may be detected from outside of it and there's generally no reason for this. Limit the transmission range, go outside your property and look to find out if it could be discovered from there. When possible you may relocate your router towards the center of the household to gain optimum coverage without creating blind spots caused by the restricted Wireless network range.
5. Alter the router's interface security password
The router's password is the password you need to type whenever logging in to the web interface. Technically if the hacker can connect to the access point's web interface then it's already too late and the hacker has gained access to the wireless network already, but nonetheless, this is a good precaution step to take and it will limit the control that the hacker has over your wireless network. Modify the password to a one that's difficult to guess and is different than the one used for the encryption.
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