Vat of Knowledge

A word or two about wireless security on your home network. Most of us are running a Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, Belkin, or some form of broadband router at home to connect all of our PC’s to the internet. Nothing is more frustrating than finding your neighbor connected to your router eating up valuable bandwidth.

WEP/WPA/WPA2

So we implement security. In the past, WEP was the only form of security, but with a Linux laptop and a couple of hours, it was easily cracked. Then cam WPA and WPA2, respectively which offer better security. I definitely recommend either of these technologies, WPA or WPA2, but there is a better way, and you can leave your access point open, making it easier to connect to without having to remember a cryptic passphrase. This solution isn’t for everyone, it just depends on how comfortable you are with accessing your router and working with it. You might also want to allow a large number of computers to access your wireless, so if this is the case, consider using WPA or WPA2.

MAC Address Filtering

Filtering by MAC address allows you to control which network cards can access your wireless network. All routers I’ve worked with have this feature. Your MAC address is the serial number assigned to your network interface by the manufacturer. To determine your MAC address, open a command prompt and type:

ipconfig /all

Enter the MAC address into the MAC address table provided by your router and you’re all set!