Tips on Wireless Home Network Security

Take steps to prevent outsiders from getting into your wireless network.computer image by Orlando Florin Rosu from Fotolia.com

A home wireless network is convenient because you can use your laptop and desktop computers anywhere in your home without the need to clutter up your home with wires. But a wireless home network is also an open book to any hacker who may want to steal the personal information you broadcast through your network and over the Internet. Take the time to secure your wireless network and prevent criminals from stealing your personal information.

User Name and Password

There are layers of security you can put between your wireless router and the outside, but if a hacker does get through, then you need to make it as difficult as possible to hack into your network. The first thing you should do is go into the settings portion of your wireless router's control panel and change the factory default user name and password to something that would be difficult for outsiders to figure out. The other step you can take is to change your user name and password at least once a month. That way, if someone does figure out your old user name and password, they would need to put in the time to figure out the new ones each month.

According to Practically Networked, almost all major brands of wireless router have an encryption known as WPA available. For security encryption, there is either WEP (Wired Equivalency Privacy) or WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) installed on most wireless routers. Windows XP supports WPA, and the Mac OS supports WPA on versions 10.3 and later. The difference is that WEP only allows numerals and alphabetic characters to make up your WEP key. When you use WPA encryption, you can use a variety of other characters, which can vary depending on your router. Read your router instruction manual to find out which characters can be used. When you use special characters in WPA, you are offering your wireless network more security.

A wireless network is only as good as the strength of the router signal. According to Microsoft, if you move your router toward the center of your home away from windows and outside walls, you decrease the signal strength to the outside. This can make it difficult for someone trying to steal your network information to get a strong enough signal to work with if they are standing outside your home.

When you look in the settings portion of the control panel for your wireless router, check to see if the remote administration feature is on or off. If it is on, and you do not need it, then turn it off. This means that only computers hard-wired to the router can access the router control panel. It will lock out anyone trying to access the router with the wireless connection.