Setting up network security

[villageidiot111]

I have a linksys 54g router, and have been using it for several months. However, I don't have any security set up on it, so anybody could get into my network. I've read about things like WEP a little bit, but I don't really understand it. Could somebody explain to me how to set it up?

I just have 2 computers, one hardwired to the router and the other wireless.

 

[SaintTigurius]

Well what you have to do is first set the WEP on your router. once that is done u will also have to set that same key on the pc.


thats about it

 

[Kelemvor]

For added security you can turn off the SSID Broadcast so passers by won't pick up your network at all using their standard laptops. You can also use MAC Address FIltering which is a way to tell your router that only certain network cards are allowed on your network.

Yes MACs can be spoofed, Non Broadcasting routers can be found, and WEP can be cracked.... But is your data and your network so important that hackers would make a special trip to sit outside your house just to hack into it? Probably not...

 

[melthemoose]

no wireless is 100% safe...but:

implementing MAC filters
Activating WEP/WPA encryption
disabling SSID broadcast

can help.

You can take even further steps by changing your encryption keys on a "regular" basis (higher end wireless security does that and makes the encryption neigh near impossible to crack by denying a sufficient sample of traffic to analyze).

For the home user (and the small business with minimal confidential information) the 1st three should be more than sufficient.

Oh yeah, I also saw this: http://www.crn.com/nl/crndirec...tml?articleId=56700049 paint your walls with it...there are some downsides as the article points out...

 

[villageidiot111]

Thanks for all the help. Now I just need to figure out how to turn on WEP.