Prevention is better than cure, its so true for securing your wireless Internet connection. In this post I will tell you what all you must do to prevent misuse of the Wireless Internet connection by someone without your permission.
Such unauthorized use of Internet connection can not only cause monerty damage, but can also be used for identity thefts and other cyber-crimes. It can mean stealing your Internet Banking passwords, credit card details etc.
I am going to list down the 5 most important things you should do after you set up wireless connection:
1. Make Connection Secure:
Securing the wireless Internet connection means to use some encryption on data and use of password authentication to access the Wireless Internet. Go to Security options on your router control page and make the connection secure. This interface may vary from brand to brand, but the concept is more or less the same. For example in my Netgear router, the option look something like this:
We recommend WPA or WPA2, along with a strong Pass-phrase or password. A good password will be one which has a mix of upper-case,lowercase and special characters. After you make these changes on your router, you have to make corresponding changes on your Laptop or Desktops which access this router, to use same encryption settings and same password.
For example, on myWwindows Vista laptop, I go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Manage Wireless Networks > right click on name of network > Properties, it will look something like this:
This will restrict your wireless Internet connection from being used without password authentication.
2. Disable SSID Broadcast
Disabling SSID broadcast is like making the router silent, it will not tell anyone that the router is around, unless someone tries to call its name( or IP address). To disable SSID, go to the control page of your router, look for SSID broadcast option and simply disable it, see the example below for the Netgear router, on this control page, I have to un-check the “Enable SSID Broadcast” option:
3. Enable Firewall On Router If Available
Some routers have in-built firewall option, if that is available, turn it on, it will help secure your computers from being hacked even if someone gets to access your network without your permission.
4. Change Administrator Password
It is very important to change the administrator password of your router, because certain brands of routers have certain default username password sets that hackers know very well, so if they get till your network, and you still have the default passwords set, they can steal your important data. For this, look for some set password/change password option on your router control page, for example, on Netgear, its something like this:
5. Turn-off Router When Not In Use
Not only does it saves on your power bills, but also, will help keep it secure, for example in my case, I use Wireless Internet at home only for 5 hours a day, so I turn it on for that time, and keep it turned off for rest of the day when I am away for work.
Hope you will find these tips useful.
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