It amazes me how many people still don’t understand the importance of securing their wireless network. Sharing your broadband Internet connection with your friends and neighbors is cool! But you need to be smart about it. If my neighbor wants to borrow my internet connection all they have to do is ask and I will be more than happy to help out. I will even come set it up for them. But A geek like myself sends a lot of sensitive information around the internet and I am not willing to do this on an open or unsecured network.

Wireless hijacking is a very popular trend so I suggest at least taking the following measures and be aware that even implementing all of these tips does not guarantee that your information will be safe and secure – but it’s a good start!

1. Change the routers default login credentials

Most routers have the same default login credentials so you should change this immediately.

You can find a pretty good list of default credentials for most brands of routers here: http://www.routerpasswords.com/

Now login and change BOTH the username and password.

2. Change the default SSID

Be sure to give your router a unique “friendly” name. A wireless network that uses the default name is a sign of a poorly configured network and is much more likely to be a target of attack. Note: Also be sure not to have your laptop setup to auto connect to a wireless network that uses a default SSID. Otherwise you find that just about every time you flip your laptop open it is connected to “Linksys” or another network using a default SSID!

3. Turn on encryption

Setting up encryption may take a few minutes but is well worth it. WEP is a simple encryption that is very vulnerable to attack and should be avoided. WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is a much more secure encryption when a strong passphrase is used.

4. Disable SSID broadcast

This will make your wireless network more difficult to discover. When a hacker (or anybody) is browsing for a wireless network to connect to they will not see yours listed.

5. Turn on MAC address filtering

A MAC (Media Access Control) address is the single unique identifier assigned to each piece of networking hardware including wireless network adapters and routers. By enabling MAC address filtering you will be able to choose which computers and devices are allowed to connect to your router.

Conclusion

Wireless security is a very highly debated topic and I will be covering this topic more in depth over the next few weeks. But if you follow these 5 tips you will make it much harder for hackers to access your wireless network.