Wi-Fi connections are a great way to browse the web wirelessly and on different computers. But, left unsecured, they can also be an open invitation for outsiders to tap in. One telltale sign that your wireless network is being tapped is a sudden drop in bandwidth speeds. Though lower speeds do not necessarily portend ‘hacking’, they are a good indicator that you need to check your Wi-Fi network connection. Call your service provider for help if this sounds like gobbledygook to you:

1 At the time of setting up a Wi-Fi router, users are prompted to set up a Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) key, which, in simple terms, is a password-protected method to log onto your network. If you didn’t select this option while installing your router—User Alert—you’re operating an ‘open’ connection. Anyone who detects your Wi-Fi using the wireless network ‘seek’ option on his or her computer can use your bandwidth.

2 While a WEP key is one step towards securing Wi-Fi, it is not the last. Alternatively, you can use the advanced security protocol known as Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) to bolster security. Check if your router supports WPA2, which is a more advanced iteration of WPA and therefore recommended.

3 Ask your service provider to set your Wi-Fi router’s Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) settings to manual. This would require him to key in each of your computer’s physical addresses. DHCP is an auto-configuration protocol used on computer networks. It allows a machine to be configured automatically, eliminating the need for human intervention. When the DHCP setting is switched to manual, you are restricting access to your router to only those machines whose addresses have been keyed in and, therefore, are recognized by the router . Usual IP range assigned through DHCP is 192.168.1.1 to around 192.168.1.50.

4 You might also want to enable Media Access Control (MAC) filtering on your routers. MAC filtering allows (or denies) access based on the unique MAC address built into every network card or Wi-Fi device. Once this filter is activated, only devices that have explicitly been allowed access may connect . It can be little pain while adding each devices to router, but offers great level of security.

5 Finally, turn off your router’s SSID broadcasting. In layman’s terms, an SSID (Service Set Identifier) is the ‘network name’, which is used to identify a particular network when multiple networks operate in the same location. Turning off the broadcast effectively makes your network invisible—and people can’t steal from things they cannot see. While registering your devices to router you need to manually enter this SSID instead of searching for WIFI availability.

Posted by: neo