Linksys WRH54G manual Appendix B Wireless Security

Wireless-G Home Router

SSID. There are several things to keep in mind about the SSID:

1.Disable Broadcast

2.Make it unique

3.Change it often

Most wireless networking devices will give you the option of broadcasting the SSID. While this option may be more convenient, it allows anyone to log into your wireless network. This includes hackers. So, don’t broadcast the SSID.

Wireless networking products come with a default SSID set by the factory. (The Linksys default SSID is “linksys”.) Hackers know these defaults and can check these against your network. Change your SSID to something unique and not something related to your company or the networking products you use.

Change your SSID regularly so that any hackers who have gained access to your wireless network will have to start from the beginning in trying to break in.

MAC Addresses. Enable MAC Address filtering. MAC Address filtering will allow you to provide access to only those wireless nodes with certain MAC Addresses. This makes it harder for a hacker to access your network with a random MAC Address.

WEP Encryption. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is often looked upon as a cure-all for wireless security concerns. This is overstating WEP’s ability. Again, this can only provide enough security to make a hacker’s job more difficult.

There are several ways that WEP can be maximized:

1.Use the highest level of encryption possible

2.Use “Shared Key” authentication

3.Change your WEP key regularly

WPA. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is the newest and best available standard in Wi-Fi security. WPA is stronger than WEP encryption, and WPA2 has stronger encryption than WPA. WPA and WPA2 give you a choice of two encryption methods: TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol), which incorporates Message Integrity Code (MIC) to provide protection against hackers, and AES (Advanced Encryption System), which utilizes a symmetric 128-Bit block data encryption. (AES is stronger than TKIP.)

Appendix B: Wireless Security

IMPORTANT: Always remember that each device in your wireless network MUST use the same encryption method and encryption key or your wireless network will not function properly.

62

Security Threats Facing Wireless Networks