A Free WiFi Class by Yours Truly - Josh

by Josh
(NC, US)

Because I'm somewhat a techo and networking guru and I care about your guy's security I'm going to do a bit of knowledge sharing with you to protect you WiFi users that come to this blog for FREE :)

If you don't understand all of the information I'm going to provide in this first post I'll try to help you the best I can later in comments.

So if you have a WiFi Router here is goes....

The biggest mistake people make is they buy a router and just plug it in and say oh, ok it's working and that's that. No further configuring or messing with it.

But for those in the know like me it's no mystery that I can scope/scan nearby user/WiFi networks and not only gain access to open shares on their network, but at the very least gain access to free internet on their WiFi or make configuration changes to their router without them having a clue was to what has been done.

Kind of like a hot spot or access point at your local coffee shop.

Like a thief hackers go after the easy targets like a little ol lady with a handbag, so if you make it difficult for them they are likely to move on.

There is much to discuss here so I'll cover as much as I can without making this a 10 hour course. I'll list a few steps you can take to protect your WiFi and I'll elaborate for those of you that have questions later in the comment section.

1) Make sure your router has the latest firmware installed on it...It's basically the software package on your router like a driver and controls the way it works. Straight out the box more than likely there have been updates released by the manufacturer and brand new from the store yours is already outdated. These are easily downloaded from the manufacturer according to the model# and version of your router. You will first need to have access to your router setup page to see what version you currently have to you can compare it to what is current on the manufacturer's website. Check back regularly to see if more updates have been released over time.

When setting up your router in the setup pages, usually accessed by a webpage address or IP address through your browser. It's slightly different with the brands, but more than likely by default your router IP address might be 192.168.1.1 Check your documentation for more info on how to access your router setup page.

2) Most routers come with a default setup password to access the setup page...Change that immediately with a complex password ranging from 8-16 characters with a mix of upper and lowercase letters and throw in some special characters and number too...Don't make it easy on a hacker. If your not concerned with physical access to the password write it down and tape it to the bottom of the router. For selecting good passwords do some research. The best method is a pass-phrase, not parts of your name or easily guessed words from a dictionary.

3) Don't broadcast your SSID - The SSID is the name you see pop up when your looking for a wireless connection to connect to. If your not readily visible than no one knows you have WiFi or exist.

It's like hiding in the shadows. Also change the name away from what is defaulted as well. If it's hidden and the default is guessed then what's the point. Hackers will immediately use defaults to try and gain access to unsecure networks.

4) WPA2 is about the most secure your gonna get with most home routers atm so setup your passkey for WPA2. Keep in mind some older devices might not support WPA2 so you might have to settle for a less secure authentication protocol. Give it just as a difficult password as I've mentioned above for wireless access but don't use the same one. Router access and WiFi access password are two different things.

Keep in mind after hiding your SSID and setting up WPA2 security you'll have to put the information in manually at first to connect your devices...You won't be able to see yourself/router. This can be done through your wireless connection settings. Scanning for your router and just clicking a name will no longer work.

5) This so far is somewhat secure - if you want to get more security out of you router setup MAC address filtering so that only certain hardware devices can access your WiFi regardless if they have all the above information. The MAC address is your connectivity devices unique identifier like a fingerprint. It looks somewhat like this "00-1B-21-33-4F-13". The first 3 sets of numbers identifies the manufacturer, the last 3 sets are unique to your device.

There are several ways to find out your MAC address. On windows at the command prompt type ipconfig /all and it will be listed as physical address. For phones and other devices you'll have to browse around for the information, but it can be found. An easier way would be to connection to you wireless router and look at the MAC address table to see which MAC address are currently connected and just add them to the list. Then turn on the filtering.

The only pain with this is if you have a friend come over and wants to connect to your router you will have to add their MAC address to the list as well or temporarily turn it off.

6) That's pretty much it for the most part...Other things can be done by changing your default IP address of the router, but it must remain within the public IP range. For example on a class C network 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254. Keep in mind this would just be the address of the router itself, through automatic IP addressing (DHCP) your router will dole out IP address to each device that is connected. Try to limit the amount of IP address to the max you would have connected to your router and any one time. If you only have 2 or 3. Limit DHCP to 3 address leases.

For example set your router with IP address of 192.168.1.5 then setup the lease range of IP address withing the scope I talk about in the previous paragraph. Maybe 192.168.1.150-160. If you have limited your IP address leases to 2, more than likely your computer and other device connected will receive the IP address 192.168.1.150 & 151, at that point nothing else will be able to connect while the two devices are actively connected cause NO more IP address are available to lease.

I can elaborate on other networking aspects later, but it's too much to cram in here so I'll leave it at that and I can help any who have any question.

P.S. To effectively get the best connection out of your WiFi router depending on the standard of 802.11 you are using b,a,g, or n signals travel over a certain frequency range and share airspace. To limit sharing airspace or frequency with neighbors you will want to change the channel/frequency that your router operates on.

For example in the 2.4 GHz range it's split into maybe 14 channels maybe 20mhz apart. You want to be at least 2 or three channels away from what everyone else is using if possible. You can scan your WiFi area with a WiFi analyzer that's easily downloaded and run to see which channels other WiFi routers are using next to you.

More than likely the average user has left the default. If everyone is using the same channel your sharing airspace and limiting your connection spreads potential.

Please note - other devices such as cell phone and home wireless phones also operate on this frequency and can cause interference as well. That's why 802.11n has become more popular because it can run on 5Ghz channels and bonds channels together to increase it's spread. But you will have to have 802.11n compatible wireless devices to utilize it. It is backwards compatible so no worries if you don't.

You should still be able to connect just not at the higher speeds and frequency/channel range.

This is for you too Levi cause I know you use wireless :)

Web Guy - Feel free to add anything I may have missed :)

WG

Way ahead of me Josh...