Is Wifi Safe?

Wifi security

If you wish to protected your Wireless in order to prevent your neighbors from using up your bandwidth, then sure that's a legitimate cause to protected your Wireless, but it really shouldn't be your main worry. The main issue with insecure WiFis is that if a hacker is able to connect to your WiFi he then can easily read through the information that's routed between you and the wireless router and reveal your usernames, passwords or anything else that is sent between the devices, regardless of whether you are using SSL. This attack is called €Man In The Middle€ or MITM and it can be easily performed by even an amatuar hacker fairly quickly. Locking down your Wireless will dramatically lower the chance of this taking place. The majority of hackers that try to hack into WiFi's will quickly give up attempting to hack a secure wireless network because there are so many unsafe networks out there which provide a considerably easier target.

1. Use a secure security encryption
Utilizing a secure encryption is the most essential course of action, it will make certain that you may only connect using a password. Selecting this options is usually done from the security tab in the Wireless setup menu. You may usually choose from 3 or 4 options: Disabled, WEP, WPA, WPA2. You must choose WPA2 or WPA - and absolutely on no account choose disabled or WEP! WEP encryption is an extremely broken encryption algorithm which can be cracked in five minutess by a completely inexperienced hacker. If your router only supports WEP encryption and not WPA then you need to replace that router Immediately.

2. Utilize a strong encryption password

I'm sure you hear this phrase a lot €Use a strong password€ and many people are thinking to themselves that on WiFis it's not really that essential, new flash - On WiFis it's very important make use of strong passwords. Its very easy for a hacker to use a program that scans the Wireless for millions of password combinations in mere minutes and hack it it. Use at least 8-10 characters and a combination of numbers, special symbols and letters. Don't use dates, names (including pet names) or phones numbers - That is first thing that cyber criminals try.

3. Change the SSID name

The SSID is the name of your network, it's that name you choose from the list of nearby networks when you try to login. It's suggested that you change that name and not use the default one. Alter it to a name that does not completely reveal who's the one who owns this wireless network, such as your surname - this is especially necessary if you're located in a dense population location for example an apartment building.

4. Restrict the Wifi's range

Limiting the transmitted range will reduce the possibility of a hacker trying to enter your wireless network. In most houses the Wireless can be detected from outside of it and there is usually no reason for that. Limit the transmission range, go outside your home and look to see if it may be detected from there. If possible you can relocate your wireless router towards the center of the house to gain maximum coverage without creating blind spots caused by the restricted Wireless network range.

5. Alter the access point's web interface security password

The router's password is that password you need to type whenever logging in to the web interface. Technically if the hacker can access the router's web interface then it's by now too late and he has gained entry to the network already, but still, this is a great preventative measure step to take and it will limit the control that this hacker has over your wireless network. Alter the password to a one that's hard to guess and is different than the one used for the encryption.