|MICRO CENTER: COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS|
|In The Lab
by chris & rob
Rob: Today, we're going to talk about wireless security. I'm sure that all of our readers at least want a wireless
|MICRO CENTER: COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS|
|In The Lab
by chris & rob
Rob: Today, we're going to talk about wireless security. I'm sure that all of our readers at least want a wireless network, if they don't have one set up already.
To keep those pesky neighbors and WAR drivers from sucking up your bandwidth and accessing your files, you'll need to practice some "safe wireless networking."
The first thing you should do (or should have done when you set up your router) is change the default user name and password.
Chris: The manufacturer of a router usually uses the same user name and password for all their routers, which makes setup easy. If you don't change them, anyone with access to your network could try the default user name and password to access your router's settings and could keep you from connecting.
Rob: If that does happen, you can always do a hardware reset of your router, but that's a pain. And you'll have to set up your router all over again.
Chris: The next thing you'll want to do is change the default SSID (Service Set IDentifier), or name of the wireless network. Changing the SSID does not really provide any security to your network since many client applications give you some way to browse available networks. Changing the SSID from the default makes it slightly more difficult to determine "known" information about the router (like its capabilities or default passwords).
Rob: An additional step is to disable the router's broadcast of the SSID. When your router broadcasts its SSID, a wireless computer can "see" the router on the list of available networks. If the router is configured not to broadcast an SSID, then a casual passerby will not be able to connect without manually configuring their client settings. Hiding the SSID won't keep them out, but it will slow them down.
Chris: To access a wireless network router that has the SSID "hidden," you must create a connection setting that has the SSID entered manually. To do this in Windows XP, click on the option to "Change Advanced Settings" in the Windows XP SP2 Wireless Connection Wizard, you have access to the "original" Windows XP Wireless configuration screens. From here you can add a new connection, specify the SSID (as it was entered in your router) and specify other settings required for the connection such as WEP and the associated encryption keys. To accomplish this in Mac OSX, see last month's Tech Tip.
Rob: The next level of security you can enable for your wireless network is WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption. Like the SSID, WEP won't prevent a determined hacker from accessing your network, but it will prevent or discourage the casual "war drivers" and neighbors. Choices for WEP security may be presented in several ways, but the core features work out to no encryption, 64-bit encryption or 128-bit encryption. (Microsoft and some of the wireless vendors may describe this as 40-bit and 104-bit encryption.)
Chris: WEP encryption codes can be entered as a hexadecimal string (numbers 0-9, letters a-f), or generated with a text-based pass-phrase, (the pass-phrase is used to create the hexadecimal string). If the method to generate the string is not consistent between your different clients (usually a result of using a different vendor for your router and another for your wireless card), you will need to manually enter the resulting hexadecimal string generated by your router into your wireless computers. The new Wireless Networking Wizard that is part of Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes a method of saving this configuration detail to a USB flash drive (or other storage media) to transfer the necessary settings to other XP SP2 systems.
Rob: Some routers and clients may support enhanced security features that are stronger than WEP encryption. WPA automatically rotates or changes the encryption key, making it more difficult for eavesdroppers to determine the codes necessary to access your network. All of your devices must support this feature, so check your documentation.
Chris: Almost all wireless routers support MAC (Media Access Control) address filtering. Each network adapter has a unique MAC address and this is the most extreme way to limit access to your network. MAC filtering also has the most maintenance when expanding the network. Each time you want to add a computer to the network, even temporarily, you need to log into the router and add another MAC address. To determine the hardware (MAC) address for your wireless network adap