It still amazes me the amount of people who still do not set up encryption on their wireless networks. By simply looking at view available wireless networks on your laptop you can see what wireless networks are available in your local area. This will also tell you which ones are secure and which ones are not. Setting up encryption on your router is key but also a very simple thing to do.

There are many different types of routers available in the marketplace but essentially they are very similar in configuration on what you need to change in order to make sure that your network is secure. The last thing you want is somebody having unauthorized access to your local area network or being able to use your Internet connection.

The first step you need to do is connect your laptop using an Ethernet cable directly to your router. Most routers allow you to access their interface to change the configuration from an Internet browser. You simply put the IP address of the router into the address bar on your Internet browser. If you are unsure how to do this have a quick look at the use of manual where you will find information on this. Once you have connected to the interface you want to change the security settings.

In the security settings you should be able to change the Network ID or sometimes called SSID. This is the name of your network and by changing this you will then be unable to locate it and connect, as we will explain in a moment. You'll then need to enable encryption and by locating the WEP settings this can be done very easily you will need to enter a 10 character code which will consist of numbers 0-9 and letters A-F make sure you mix this up a little as it gives a better sense of security once done. Make sure you take note of what this 10 character password or sometimes called passphrase is.

You will need to save the settings and possibly restart your router. When this is done disconnect the Ethernet cable and you will then go to the View Available Wireless Networks where you will hopefully be able to see the network ID that you previously setup. Once this has been found to link and enter the 10-character passphrase. You should now be able to connect to your network wirelessly and better still it is now encrypted. This is a simple security measure that will ensure that you have no unauthorized access to your network.

There is another level of security that you should be able to setup quite easily. In the configuration area on your router you can enter the MAC address of your wireless network card. You can locate the MAC off your card from the control panel and would you have enabled this feature on your router it will only allow laptops who have registered their MAC addresses to connect. This is just a second level of security but showed insurer that there is no unauthorized access to your WiFi network.

Martin Smith is a writer providing advice on Wireless Internet Security if you have time drop by his site for some tips and information.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 9:29 pm and is filed under Networks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.