Finally, technology has made it relatively easy to enjoy the power and convenience of a wireless network in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Unfortunately, with this convenience comes significant security risks. Without the proper safeguards in place, a home wireless network exposes you, your data and your equipment to exploitation, pirating, viruses and other security threats.
Network security experts in the field receive extensive training and command high fees for their services. Fortunately, you can find a home wireless networking tutorial to learn more about it. Find a home wireless networking tutorial that covers the following five ways to significantly increase the security of your home wireless network and keep your system safe from the most common threats.
Disable Network Broadcasting
A good home wireless networking tutorial will tell you that one of the most effective steps you can take to protect your wireless network is to hide it. By default, your wireless router will broadcast its existence to the world. While this is convenient, it means that your neighbors – and even people driving or walking by your house – will be able to detect and exploit your network. When doing a home wireless networking tutorial, pay attention to how to disable this broadcast so that others will have to know the name of your network before they can connect to it.
Rename Your Network
Your home wireless networking tutorial should teach you that your wireless network uses something called an SSID to identify itself. When you install your router, it usually comes with a default SSID, often named after the equipment itself. When you’ve finished the home wireless networking tutorial, change this name immediately to something you’ll remember but that would be difficult for others to guess. Once you’ve disabled network broadcasting, potential users of your wireless network will have to manually enter your SSID in order to connect. While changing this name is no guarantee of security, it sets up one hurdle for casual hackers who wish to pirate your Internet connection for their own purposes.
Enable Encrypted Connections
Any home wireless networking tutorial will tell you a simple definition of a protected wireless network is one that requires encryption for connectivity. This means that if you don’t have encryption enabled, your network should be considered unprotected. Learn in your home wireless networking tutorial how to enable encryption – often called WPA or WEP – for your wireless connection. This will accomplish two important security goals. First, any equipment that wishes to connect to your network will have to know the encryption key you’ve defined. This is yet another hurdle for those who wish to use your Internet connection. Second, it ensures that all data that travels over your wireless network is only available to people or machines with the encryption key. As you’ll learn in your home wireless networking tutorial, with encryption enabled, any authorized machine will be able to understand your data, while other machines will see the data as digital gibberish.
Enable Your Firewalls
Wireless routers usually come with a firewall. Your home wireless networking tutorial should cover this. A firewall is essentially a filter that determines the kinds of Internet traffic that can travel into and out of your network. The router’s firewall is usually enabled by default, but make sure yours hasn’t been disabled, and then configure the settings for maximum security. Be sure to pay attention when your home wireless networking tutorial goes over the settings. These settings will prevent any uninvited usage of your network. For added security in addition to the router’s firewall, install and enable firewall software on any computers that are connected to your network. Again, your home wireless networking tutorial should discuss this.
Turn Off the Network
A home wireless networking tutorial may forget to mention that the simplest way to protect your wireless network from unauthorized usage is to turn its power off during extended idle periods. While it might not be convenient or advisable to turn off the network every day, you don’t want to leave it on and available if you don’t plan to use it for several days or longer. An idle wireless network invites exploitation and unsolicited traffic. Simply turn off the network before you leave town to prevent virtual squatters from moving in.
With the help of a home wireless networking tutorial or two, wireless networking has made many home computing tasks quicker, easier and more convenient. With the power of wireless networking, we can surf the Internet, print documents and access remote files while we’re still in bed. However, you’ll learn in your home wireless networking tutorial that wireless networking also makes our computers, printers, files and other networked equipment vulnerable to a number of external threats from malicious users who can just as easily connect to our networks. Take a home wireless networking tutorial and take a few simple precautions to dramatically increase the security of your wireless network. You’ll sleep much more soundly.
