Hi, I am hoping that someone knowledgeable will help me to further secure if necessary my wireless network. I have my main computer connected by cable to the ADDON router, and my girls computer connected via wlan, which is on most of the day. I have set it up with 128 bit encryption and open authentication as I read that this is more secure. Is there any further software that anyone can recommend that will block or notify anyone trying to log onto my wlan or is my current setup suffice. Please excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject but this is my first ever venture into networking. There are only the two computers on this network. I will be greatful of any advice on the subject Regards rollers
The length of the encryption key is not the most important aspect. It's the technique that makes security. Currently you need WPA or even WPA2 is the method for encryption to have a minimum level of security. WEP is not good.
Thanks very much for your reply. I did manage ( after much fiddling and a few mistakes) to get the wpa up and running. I have researched on the net to find out about it and indeed have learned about its benefits. Yesterday I knew nothing of it, so I guess we all have to start somewhere. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. Just one question more though, how do you know if you have the wpa or wpa2 installed on your router? Regards Rollers
Biggest difference is the key management handling of WPA2 versus WPA. There's more (just check this site) but that's mosty important (AES encryption is nice, but just go one step at the time). If your router config chows WPA or WPA -TKIP you're running WPA. If your router config shows WPA - PSK then you're on WPA2. Both your router and your operating system must of course run the same protocol. Great fun, isn't it ?
Another good security addition is to permit only the MAC address of the computers you want to allow to connect to your wireless LAN. Then any other unauthorised connections will be rejected by the access point. Most routers/access points have this option, so it requires no additional software or hardware.
Without encryption this is useless. Any sniffer could track the accepted MAC address and could spoof this mac address to connect. It's a nice enough feature, but you'll have to use it with decent encryption anyhow.
Thanks Meneer, you have explained it so that I understand. I now have it set on the wpa2 using the PSK key, and have used a long varied key at that. I have also read up in the manual ( it was written with rocket scientist in mind I think, not a simpleton like me and have also now used the MAC filtering too. So thank you, now I am much more secure and understand what it all means too. Regards Rollers
