How-to: Protect Your Wireless LAN

Let's dispel something very early on, regardless of what the paranoid naysayers tell you, wireless IS the way to go at home if you tend to compute in multiple rooms (or outside on the patio, beer in hand, during a conference call). Uhm, I have heard that some people do this. Moving right along.

OK, the article I have linked here will tell you the steps needed to secure yourself. It mentions a free product named Netstumbler that can identify wireless networks in the area. Yes, it will do so even if the SSID Broadcast function is turned off. Kind off scary and eye opening that simply saying the network is not there does not make it so.

What the article does not go on to say, though, is that once the existence of a network is confirmed, free tools like AirSnort can be used to recover the encryption keys, ultimately leading to the breach of your network. Is that enough to make you do something more than open the box and plug it in? I bloody hope so.

BTW, everyone knows that the default username of the Linksys box you have in your house is admin and the password is admin. Now, go and fix it!

Ciao!



How-to: Protect Your Wireless LAN