In this article I will try and explain how you can secure your wireless network. You’ll need a minimum of computer knowledge, but I’ll try and post links to resources that explain best various terms that I’ll use in this post. I won’t be posting a screenshot step by step guide as router user interfaces are very different from one to another, but the names you’ll see for various options are the same everywhere. So, let’s get started:

Terms and things you need to know about your wireless router

1. IP address – it’s the Internet address of a connected device, it’s made or four groups of numbers, each with values between 0 and 225.
2. Encryption protocol – the method used to scramble the data being send/received so that someone without proper access right won’t be able to understand.
3. MAC address – it’s the address of the networking interface in a computer. Your router, computer network card, wireless card in your laptop have different MAC addresses (Example: 00-81-7D-31-3B-C4)
4. Network SSID (Service Set identifier) – is the name of the wireless network you’re creating with the router. When you search for networks in range or connect to a network that’s the identifier.

How to secure your wireless network?

There are a few options to secure a wireless network starting from the router. I’m referring here to security as in “no computer in range of my wireless router can access my network if I don’t grant it access”, I’m not covering Internet security, as it is a much broader subject and includes subjects like Firewalls, Antispyware, Antimalware and Antivirus software.

So, here are the methods you can use to deny unauthorized access to your wireless home network:

1. Hide your network SSID from being broadcasted by the router. In this way a person who want to connect to your wireless network won’t be able to do it unless he know the network exists and its name. Don’t be fooled tough as there are programs that can find wireless networks in range, with or without SSID.
2. Don’t leave the network traffic unsecured. Choose an encryption protocol that offers high security and use a long password with special chars like numbers, -, _, ?, * etc. I recommend using WPA and WPA2 variants, not WEP.
3. Filter MAC addresses that have access to the network. All wireless routers have the option of specifying which MAC addresses of network cards are allowed to connect. This is a very powerful protection method. Find your MAC address in Windows by hitting Start button – Run – cmd.exe and type “ipconfig /all”, then look for your network card name and copy the “Physical address” number.
4. Change your router IP address and password. By default many routers come with passwords like “admin” and IP addresses like 192.168.0.1. Changem both of them to not so easy to guess values.

Those are the most basic and at the same time efficient methods of securing your wireless network at home, so if you do all of them there’s little chance an unexperienced hacker can pass through them, but that doesn’t mean you’re bullet proof. If you have any questions leave a comment bellow and I’ll try and help you.

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Because the Adsense blog is a blog with many readers and commenters I’ve received a lot of email notifications this weekend. To my surprise today I’ve also received a few SPAM comments. I can’t believe that Google doesn’t moderate every comment or use a reliable service like Akismet. Besides the fact that it’s not professional, it show that the Blogger platform isn’t one of the best choices when it comes to blogging, WordPress being a more suited option.

I'm not the only one observing SPAM comments on the Adsens Blog

I think it’s time for someone to do something about this SPAM issue and Google doesn’t lack the power to do so. But I think they prefer to focus on other money bringing issues and the competition.

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In past people who knew how to install a program, archive some files and copy them in volumes on diskettes were little gods for those who looked at PCs like a new music trend, destined to disappear in a few years. But that didn’t happen and computers become mainstream and few people don’t use them today.

The problem with mainstream is that now few people are really experts with computers and some of them have bad intentions, which poses big risks to all the others using computers as a way of life, which, just like LIFE itself isn’t fair sometimes.

Few people understand the risks and know how to protect themselves and that’s the biggest problem this days: the ignorants and the ones that fear too much and prefer not to use PCs for things they think are dangerous. First there were the viruses but that’s hardly the issue it was a few years ago. Internet scams are now “the big thing” as a lot of people are weak enough to believe what other are saying. The difference is that the Internet offers greater protection for thieves and allows someone with basic skills to conceal their identity to the victim.

The solution as I see it is not to try controlling the Internet too much as it will lose the most important thing people love about it: freedom, but to try and educate consumers more plus enacting stronger organizations (like local militia) with stronger tools to help them fight online crimes.

That’s vague, I know but if any of you with above average online security knowledge teaches a few friends about security basics maybe people will avoid rookie mistakes and make online interactions more secure. Am I wright or not?

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