Technicolor - Thomson TG787 manual Disabling Ssid Broadcast, What does this mean?, Security

5 Wireless Security

5.3Disabling SSID Broadcast

What does this mean?

Access points broadcast their Network Name (SSID) to announce themselves to the wireless stations and other access points. Wireless clients will make a list of these access points and show them to the user. The user can then select his wireless client and try to connect to this access point.

By disabling the SSID broadcasting, your access point will no longer be available in those lists. Users will have to enter the Network Name manually if they want to connect to your wireless network.

Security

This was the first method to secure a WLAN, because you have to know the Network Name in order to access the wireless network. With the correct tools, hackers can still find out which SSID you are using. But you can see it as a first step in discouraging them to try and break in to your wireless network.

Procedure

To disable SSID broadcast, proceed as follows:

1Open the Thomson Gateway Web Interface.

2Under Home Network, click Wireless.

3The Wireless Access Point page appears.

4In the Navigation Bar, click Configure.

5Under Security, clear the Broadcast Network Name check box.

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