Three Steps to Secure Your Home Network

This post originally appeared here on July 29, 2014.

Wireless networks are wonderful.  We can take our laptop, tablet, or phone and sit anywhere in the house while we surf the web.  However, having wireless access in your home also means that someone sitting in their car across the street can use your internet unless you take steps to block that person out.  And while you might just think that you are being generous by allowing others to use your bandwidth, any activities (including illegal ones) performed by a person on the network will be connected back to you.  You may be able to clear yourself eventually, but you will end up with many hassles and legal bills before that happens.

Fortunately, it is simple to secure your home's wireless network to block out intruders.

1) Add a password - This is the most basic security step you can take.  When someone tries to connect to your network, they will be forced to enter the password you set up.

To set up your password, you will need to access your router's control panel.  To access this panel, you will need to go to a web browser window and enter your router's network address.  (The network address will be listed in your router's documentation, or you can look up the address for your router online.  It will begin with 192.168.)  Next, you will need to enter the user name and password.  These have a default setting, so if you have not changed them, look up the defaults in the documentation or online, as well.  Then, you will need to navigate to where you can change the password.  The exact procedure will differ based on your router, but for my router, I click on "Wireless" and then "Security".  For the best security, you will want to use WPA2 security unless you have a device that cannot connect with WPA2.  On my router, this is changed under "Authentication Type".  Underneath that option is a place for the "Passphrase".  This is obviously where you will enter the password that you want.

While this step will keep most people off your network, a determined person will still be able to get around your security if all you do is add a password.  To stop these people, you need to do more:

2) Change your SSID - The SSID is a name that identifies your wireless network.  By default, it will usually contain the brand name of the router.  Remember how we could access the control panel earlier by looking up the router's address online?  If your router's brand is listed in your network name, anyone on your network could look up that address and access your control panel.  Even if the model number is not in the description, most manufacturers use the same one or two addresses for all their routers.  Once on your network, it would not take long to be inside your control panel.

To change your SSID, you will once again go to the control panel and search for an "SSID" option to change.  On my router, I can access that by simply clicking on "Wireless".  Once there, think of a creative name for your network.  You can use your last name, your address, or even change it to "FBI Surveillance Van".  (Yes, I know of at least two people who have done that!)  This is not a password, so there is no need to be concerned about coming up with a complicated name.  The critical factor is that your router's brand name is gone!

If you want to be extra conscious about security, you can disable SSID broadcasting.  This will cause your network to appear as something like "Unidentified Network" or "Unnamed Network".  Then, in order to connect, you will have to enter the network name along with the password you set earlier.  While this provides a little extra security, it also adds the inconvenience of having to remember and enter the network name along with the password.

3) Change your Access Password - Remember how we had to enter a user name and password to access the router control panel.  Because so many routers use the same default address, it would not take long to guess the address of most routers.  Once the person has done this, they will almost always have access to the model number of your router (it is usually displayed on the login page).  If your user name and password to access the control panel is still the default, they can look it up just as easily as you can!  Once inside your control panel, they can make all kinds of changes to your network, including blocking you from accessing your own router.

To stop this, change your router's access password.  (Some may also allow you to change the user name, but others may not.)  This may take a little time to find in your control panel, but it is worth it.  You can also attempt to look up directions in your documentation or online.  Make sure you write this password down!  You will most likely use it infrequently, so you want to have it written down where you can find it when you need it.