With the amount of options hackers have to enter our computers these days it is essential that you ensure that you are as secure as possible. One area that we often do not secure enough is our wireless routers. There are several easy steps that you can take to ensure that your router is reasonably secure.

Almost all routers use a webpage to configure their settings. For the most part they use a default address of 192.168.0.1 . The usual administrator username is simply “admin”. But I would consult the documentation for the unit to make sure before starting these steps. The first thing to do is to make sure to change the default administrator password on the laptop. By default most routers come either with no password set or the password is simply the word “password”. I would recommend using a password of at least 6 characters that is made up of both numbers and letters.

I would then move on to what is called using the NAT (Network Address Translation) part of the router. What this means is that your router connects to the internet for you and gets and IP address. For example it could be 14.177.1.1. By default the router assigns computers connected to it with addresses starting at 192.168.0.1. This means that anyone that can detect your router on the internet can simply start trying different numbers in sequence to start finding computers on your router. By this I mean they try 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2,  and so on. If you enable NAT on your router you can set it so that your router gives your computers an address such as 10.0.0.1. This way it will be difficult for hackers to determine the address of your computer.

If you have several computers that use the wireless side of the router then I would set the router to accept requests from those specific computers. The computers cannot be identified by using IP addresses because they can change when a computer is turned off and then back on again. The best way is using the MAC address or “hardware” address of your wireless network card. This can be retrieved by clicking on the start button and then click on run. In the “run” box type in “cmd” and hit enter. You will be presented with a DOS screen. At the prompt type “ipconfig /all” and hit enter. This will display a lot of information but you will see a line for your network card which will be labeled as “Physical Address”. This is the information you are after. Each network card has a unique address so it will enable you to allow only specified computers to use your internet connection. Write down the address exactly as shown and then type “exit” and hit enter. Repeat this process for all of the computers that use your router. You then open your web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer) and open the configuration section of your router. From here look for the screen which could be labeled “network filter” or “MAC filter”. Enter the addresses for each computer on your router. The information may be required to be entered as 00:16:01…. or CF-CB-F6… depending on your make and model of router. You may need to consult the documentation for your router. Once all of the addresses are entered be sure to save/apply the changes.

Some of these items may seem a bit much for the average user but if you take your time and consult the documentation which came with your router they will be easily accomplished. If you make these few changes they can go a long way towards making your wireless environment considerably more secure. If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to post a question in the forums and I will be more than happy to help.