Securing your wireless connection

Did you know you can share an ADSL broadband connection with your family by purchasing a wireless router? That way you don’t have to have cables all over your home to connect your network.

Whether setting up a wireless network in your home or using a wireless connection to visit a public hotspot such as an equipped cafe, it's certainly convenient. But is it secure? The answer is quite simple – unless you've taken a few steps to secure your wireless network, it really isn't safe, and almost anyone could be looking at your files – or using your connection.

If you're network is not encrypted, anyone can pull up in a car outside your house with a laptop and have a browse through things you'd rather keep secret or they could logon to your wireless network and start using up your bandwidth.

No network is safe – there are stories of huge companies falling victim to this sort of activity. I know of at least one real estate agency that lost an entire confidential client list to a competitor by not having their wireless network protected. Although most networks do use encryption, they still mostly use Wireless Equivalency Protocol (WEP).

Basically, WEP is easily cracked by readily available sniffing programs. You may even not care that strangers, in theory, can get onto your hard drive – maybe there's nothing of interest there. But say you have a download limit of 1GB, do you really want the IT savvy guy upstairs using it all up?

Wi-Fi Protected Access or WPA, and the newer WPA2, are the weapons of choice when securing a wireless network. The encryption keys are harder to crack than the older WEP.

Wireless Security Tips

• Use WPA encryption. It is the most secure protocol available and will help stop snoopers and hackers accessing your files and stealing your bandwidth. Encryption is essential!

• Turn off your device. An easy, but often neglected step. If your modem and computer are not on, they can't be accessed.

• Change your router's name and password. It's not difficult to find out what the default passwords of different manufacturers are. Too many people make this crucial error.

• Disable SSID broadcast. This broadcasts a signal telling all in the area the router is ready to go – a step that isn't necessary at home. You just need to type in the SSID in the setup dialogue once and it should be remembered.

• Turn off peer-to-peer networks. Enable infrastructure mode on all the computers you want to access your router.

• Check for snoopers using your Wi-Fi gateway. You can also download “packet sniffing” software to do this.

• Use passwords! As well as putting a password on your computer, you can put passwords on individual folders.

• Use a firewall. Although your network may be secured, you also want to make sure any attacks through your gateway are quickly stopped.

If you are not sure how to go about any of the above steps contact your provider – they can advise you and give you any necessary codes you may need to set up the WPA encryption.