Securing Wireless Network

[Tyguy]

What exactly do I need to do in my router settings to make sure my network is secure and only my roomates and myself are allowed access?

What does it mean when you broadcast your SSID?

 

[Pesmerga]

Put a password on it. Wow.

 

[Raziaar]

When you broadcast your SSID, when people scan the area for wireless access points they will be able to see your SSID there, which is basically just a name if I'm correct, but it'll let them more easily see it and attempt to log in on it. With SSID broadcast turned off, you won't be able to just see that SSID while scanning, and so you'll have to manually enter it in your configuration for the devices that will be connecting to your wireless. This is ideal.

The other ways of securing your wireless network, are to make sure you have security enabled with a WEP key. This is something you enter into your router, which is basically just a key code that is another measure of security.

Further, and something I highly recommend, is to make sure you have Wireless MAC Authentication turned on, and manually enter the MAC address from each of your devices into the white-list on your router, so that only devices with those listed MAC addresses can connect to the wireless.


So all in all, make sure you have SSID broadcast turned off, make sure you have WEP enabled with a key that you will enter into each of your devices, and MAC Address Authentication turned on with each MAC code of the devices you plan on using entered into the white-list.


Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this please.

I'm having difficulty connecting my brothers newly bought PSP to our wireless... I was able to get the Wii connected, and did the same process with the PSP, but I think it might just be a router broadcast problem on my end since the Wii is no longer connecting either. My dad probably just has too much damn stuff blocking it. Grrr.

 

[99.vikram]

WEP is easier to crack than WPA.

 

[Raziaar]

WEP is easier to crack than WPA.

Well, either will work. I'm just not familiar with WPA yet.

 

[Warbie]

WPA is better - it generates encrytion keys for each wireless device rather than using a the same static key for all - and can't be broken within minutes, unlike WEP. Hoewever, some devices - Wii, DS etc - don't support WPA and it's unlikely that some devious guy will be trying to sniff out your packets. Do everything Raziaar pointed out and you should be fine.

 

[Barney Fife]

WEP is easier to crack than WPA.

WPA is easier to crack than WPA2.

Anyway, do what Raziaar said: Secure the WiFi either the hard way (By not broadcasting your WIFI and manually linking devices with exchanged MAC IDs). Or the less hard (By Adding the MAC IDs of those devices allowed to connect to your WiFi). Or securing your WiFi network the easy way (By enabling your WiFi security WEP, WPA or WPA2 and generate shared key preferably 128bit)

NOTE: All devices must support the selected type of security.

Good Luck.

 

[Tyguy]

thanks all

pesmerga, your a cotton headed ninny muggins

 

[No Limit]

I would only like to add a couple of things. Broadcasting or not broadcasting your SSID really doesn't make you any less or more secure. Anyone with a simple wifi scanner will still detect your SSID. So for convenience sake I usually leave this on.

The most important you need to do is make sure that you are using encryption on your network. WEP is fine for most people but as has been said it is actually very easy to crack. A person could pull up to your house, collect some packets for a few minutes, drive off, run a program similar to a brute force attack and in a matter of no time have your wireless key. For this reason I would recommend WPA with a pre-shared key (sometimes called PSK String).

By far the safest thing you can do is use WPA with a radius server, but this is way over board for most home and even small office users. Using basic WPA authentication with a shared key will be more than enough protection for you.

In addition, if you aren't going to have a lot of devices connecting to your wireless network also look in to setting up MAC address filtering. This will only allow devices to connect that you approve but this can turn out to be a pain when you add or remove new devices often.

 

[Tyguy]

See, this is where it all goes to shit. I try and secure the network, and when I click on "Save Settings" it basically freezes and I lose my connection. Once I close the browser and look for the network, it appears but says I am unable to use it.

Do I need to update the firmware? I downloaded the file but it's a .bin file and I don't know how to install.

 

[Barney Fife]

Well, whenever you setup something in the router and you press "Save" it will seem to be frozen but, what the router is actually doing is to update and reboot router. You will, in the process loose connection momentarily, but that shouldn't take too long to log back and connect to the Internet.

Also, its always a good idea to update firmware for stability and security reasons, and YOU MUST do so by using the computer physically connected to router to avoid loosing connection while updating, corrupting firmware along with router.

Good Luck.

 

[Stigmata]

All I do is set my router to only allow devices in the MAC Address whitelist to connect. No blacklists, no WEP/WPA keys, works like a charm.

 

[Krynn72]

All I do is use a wired router.


I win!

 

[Pesmerga]

All I do is work and jackoff.

 

[Barney Fife]

All I do is none of the above.

 

[Tyguy]

Well, whenever you setup something in the router and you press "Save" it will seem to be frozen but, what the router is actually doing is to update and reboot router. You will, in the process loose connection momentarily, but that shouldn't take too long to log back and connect to the Internet.

Also, its always a good idea to update firmware for stability and security reasons, and YOU MUST do so by using the computer physically connected to router to avoid loosing connection while updating, corrupting firmware along with router.

Good Luck.

ok, so as far as updating the firmware goes, it gives me a binary file. How do I use this file?
Also, I've waited for over 10 minutes when making a change and it was still "frozen", is this normal?

Thanks barney

 

[Barney Fife]

Ten minutes is too long for the router to save the changes and reboot, it shouldn't take more than ten seconds. Maybe you need firmware update.
Firmware comes in binary format. DL and save the firmware on your desktop area, log into your router page like you normally do, look for and find in the option menu of the router where it says "Update router firmware" or something similar to that, press "Update router/firmware" and press "browse" (Like you're trying to upload a picture) look for the firmware you have saved on the desktop and choose the file, then hit update.
If your router can find upgraded firmware by itself through the Internet you can also do it like that and let router update itself.

Every router is different according to the router manufacturer and model, but you can upgrade router along the instruction above. Consult with router owner's manual to specifically find out how to upgrade router. Make sure you do this by using the computer physically connected to router.
After you have done updating you must create logging name and password for the router, without it anyone can remotely connect to your router and make changes or intrude your network.

Good Luck.

 

[Tyguy]

Thanks for the help Barney + everyone else

 

[Barney Fife]

Thanks for the help Barney + everyone else

No problem bro. Good Luck.

 

[No Limit]

See, this is where it all goes to shit. I try and secure the network, and when I click on "Save Settings" it basically freezes and I lose my connection. Once I close the browser and look for the network, it appears but says I am unable to use it.

Do I need to update the firmware? I downloaded the file but it's a .bin file and I don't know how to install.

Are you making these changes while connected wirelessly? If so that could be your problem. Connect to the router through a cable when you make these changes and see if that works. You can also try to reset to the factory settings by holding the reset button on the back of the router, if its a linksys router you have to hold it for about 30 seconds. If you still have problems call their support.

All I do is set my router to only allow devices in the MAC Address whitelist to connect. No blacklists, no WEP/WPA keys, works like a charm.

That's a really insecure way of doing it. If someone knows your mac address they can easily set their ethernet adapter to use it.

And I don't know of a method of how the following could be done but I'm sure its possible: If you have no encryption set up you are sending all your packets through the air unencrypted. This means if someone has a proper sniffing device they could look at those packets and easily determine your mac address. I know all this seems paranoid but its always better to be safe then sorry. Having someone in on your internal network is a very dangerous possibility if you do anything sensative inside of that network (check bank accounts, send payments, etc, etc, etc).

 

[Tyguy]

now im just ****ing annoyed...i got it working for my PC and laptop (both VISTA). My two roomates are unable to access the network and get a message saying it is out of range. Is this an XP/Vista issue?

 

[No Limit]

now im just ****ing annoyed...i got it working for my PC and laptop (both VISTA). My two roomates are unable to access the network and get a message saying it is out of range. Is this an XP/Vista issue?

How did you set up your wireless network, with WPA? If yes apply the following patch on your XP systems:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...25-CE2B-47A4-ABEC-274845DC9E91&displaylang=en

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=815485