| Appendix |
Appendix
Securing Your Network
1. Change Admin Password
Changing the password to access your new router is the first step in securing your network. This can done through the Wizard or on the Admin Page of the Tools tab. There is no password by default and hackers will know this when trying to access your network. Make sure that the password you choose is not commonly known or something that is easy to guess such as your last name or your pet’s name. Try using a combination of letters and numbers to deter intruders from hacking into your network. Your private information should be kept private.
2.Disable DHCP and use Static IP addresses or Use Static DHCP and limit scope to the amount of users on your network.
In the event that an intruder manages to gain access to your network, having DHCP enabled makes it easier for the intruder to access other computers on your network. There are two methods for getting around this. One is to disable DHCP and use static IP addressing on all the devices connected to your network. This would mean that the intruder would have to know what IP network your devices are on in order to access them. The second way is to change the scope of the DHCP server to only include enough IP addresses for the devices in your network.You can then use the Static DHCP feature of the router to assign an IP address to each device on your network. Static DHCP still dynamically assigns an IP address to your network devices but only allows for those defined devices to obtain an IP address.
3. Change the default LAN IP address
Change the default LAN IP address from 192.168.0.1 to an alternate IP address. There are 3 ranges of IP addresses that have been reserved for use on Private Networks.
10.0.0.0- 10.255.255.255 (10.0.0.0/8)
172.16.0.0- 172.31.255.255 (172.16.0.0/12) 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168.0.0/16)
4. Set up MAC Filtering
Each networking device (router, network card, etc) on a network contains a unique hexadecimal number that identifies that specific product. This number is referred to as a MAC address. MAC filtering allows you to create a list of the MAC address of each device on your network and only allows these specific devices to associate with your network. With this feature enabled, devices attempting to connect to your network with a MAC address that is not in the list you created, will be denied access.
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