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Step by step guide to securing wireless router
06-22-2010, 06:47 AM (This post was last modified: 06-22-2010 03:58 PM by Aakash.)
Post: #1
Step by step guide to securing wireless router
Setting up a wireless router is easy. Essentially you turn your cable or DSL modem off and your wireless router on. Then, you connect the router to the modem with a cable, and turn the modem back on. You are more or less done. The wireless network wizard on your computer will pick up the router and, if your ISP does not have any special requirements, away-you-go, you are on the Internet.
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For ease of setup and configuration, manufacturers ship wireless routers with all security disabled. Therein lies the problem. If you do not take any further steps to secure your router, and a surprising number of people don’t, your network will be wide open to all passersby and strangers. It’s like you’ve hung out a sign, “The door is open. Please come in and help yourself.”

The problem is not that strangers will be able to use your router to access the Internet but that, without further protection, would-be intruders will be able monitor and sniff out information you send and receive on your network. Malicious intruders can even hop on to your internal network; access your hard drives; and, steal, edit, or delete files on your computer.

The good news is that it is relatively easy to secure your wireless router. Here are three basic steps you should take.

Password protect the access to your router’s internal configuration
To access your router’s internal setup, open a browser and enter the routers setup URL. The URL will be specified in the manual. The URLs for D-Link and Linksys routers, two major manufacturers of wireless routers, are http://192.168.0.1 and http://192.168.1.1, respectively. My Netgear router is accessed through the private ip http://10.0.0.1.

For Linksys routers, leave the user name blank and type “admin” (without the quotes) in the password field and press enter. To change the password, simply click on the Password tab and enter your new password.

For other routers, please consult your manual. Alternately, you can search on the Internet with the term “default login for ”. Don’t be surprised to find quite a number of pages listing default login parameters for many different routers, even uncommon ones.

Change the default SSID (Service Set IDentifier)
The SSID is the name of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). All wireless devices on a WLAN use SSIDs to communicate with each other.

Routers ship with standard default SSIDs. For example, the default SSID for Linksys routers is, not unsurprisingly, “Linksys”. As you can see, if you don’t change the default SSID of your router a would-be intruder armed with a few common SSIDs from major manufacturers will be able to find your wireless network quite easily.

To change the SSID, click on the Wireless tab. Look for an input item labeled SSID. It will be near the top. Enter a new name for network. Don’t use something like “My Network”. Use a name that is be hard to guess.

Disable SSID broadcast
Wireless enabled computers use network discovery software to automatically search for nearby SSIDs. Some of the more advanced software will query the SSIDs of nearby networks and even display their names. Therefore, changing the network name only helps partially to secure your network. To prevent your network name from being discovered, you must disable SSID broadcast.

In the same screen that you changed the name of your network, you will see options for SSID broadcast. Choose “Disable SSID” to make your network invisible. Now save all your settings and log out.

Since your wireless network is now invisible, you will have to configure your computers to connect to your wireless network using the new name. On Windows XP, start by clicking on the wireless icon in the Notification Area and proceed from there.

With these three steps, your network now has basic security. However, if you keep sensitive information on your computers, you may want to secure your wireless network even further. For example, you can

- Change the channel your router uses to transmit and receive data on a regularly basis.
- Restrict devices that can connect to the router by filtering out MAC (Media Access Control) addresses.
- Use encryption such as WEP and WPA.

As with most things in life, security is a trade off between cost (time, money, inconvenience) and benefit (ease of use). It is a personal decision you make. However for the majority of home uses, the three basic steps plus WEP/WPA encryption provides reasonably strong security.

Turning on encryption is a two-step process. First you configure your router to use encryption using an encryption key of your choice. And then, you configure your computer to use the encryption key. The actual process of configuring your router for encryption varies from router to router. Please consult the router’s manual.

There are even stronger methods for ensuring security. A strong and robust security method is RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service). Using RADIUS requires additional hardware and software. However, there are companies that offer RADIUS security as a subscription based service. The fees are reasonable and dropping.

Therefore for example, if you run a business on your wireless network, have sensitive data on your computers such as credit card information, and have a number of users who access your network, you should consider using RADIUS.
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12-06-2010, 08:09 AM
Post: #2
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
Thanks for sharing the detailed tutorial on wireless router setup
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12-08-2010, 08:21 PM
Post: #3
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
Thanks for details mate Smile
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01-07-2011, 10:00 AM
Post: #4
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
Thanks for the setup guide. I'd like to know its performance too, let say if my house have 2 floors and all the wall are concrete, what should I put it, in order to cover all the house? (my house is about 15x15 meters).
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02-24-2011, 10:56 PM
Post: #5
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
A wireless router is a device that performs the functions of a router but also includes the functions of a wireless access point and a network switch. They are commonly used to allow access to the Internet or a computer network without the need for a cabled connection. It can function in a wired LAN (local area network), a wireless only LAN (WLAN), or a mixed wired/wireless network.
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05-10-2011, 09:17 PM
Post: #6
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
If you are facing the slow connection issue, you can check the reason for the problem. If the connection drop issue is due to your ISP, you can contact your ISP. If you discover any issue from your side, you can check the router and the associated hardware. If you have issues with your Ethernet cables, you can replace them.
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05-12-2011, 04:35 PM
Post: #7
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
Wireless computers and routers use radio waves to communicate.Those waves are sometimes strong enough to carry outside your house.Switching DHCP off and using static IP addressing is no defense against hacking.Every Wi-Fi router has an administration webpage that can be accessed through your browser.
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08-10-2011, 04:42 PM
Post: #8
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
Hey dude you have guided very well, I tried also but not succedded. It will be nice if you could show the demo also. Why don't you download it on youtube, so that everyone undersatand it easily.
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08-28-2012, 10:22 AM
Post: #9
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
Thanks so much for such a detailed tutorial! I knew about (and use) the password feature but had no idea that I could alter the SSID; going to give that a go later tonight.
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08-30-2012, 04:33 AM
Post: #10
RE: Step by step guide to securing wireless router
In our virtual world we should always stay with care. Phisher are always working to spread their notorious hand.
Your tips help us now protect our wireless router.
Thanks for your post Akash.
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