How To Secure Your Wi-Fi Network
Learning how to secure your wi-fi network is a fairly quick and painless process that can save you endless headaches down the line. While it would be great to just plug everything in and go, in order to be safe and secure, it’s wiser to spend a little bit of time setting up the security on your wireless router.
First things first, customize your router name and password. There are two passwords: one for the router itself, one for your wireless network (should you choose to enable that password). Your router password allows you to access the router settings, wherein you manage all the wireless access to your internet connection. When you are setting up your router, there is usually a step in the process allowing you to change the password. You can still operate with a default password, but that leaves a big vulnerability to any hacker-minded neighbors or guests you might have.
Secondly, change your network name. It may seem counter-intuitive to customize your network name, but in many cases it can serve to separate you from the pack of other Wi-Fi networks in your area. As a test, wherever you are, check the available networks, chances are you’ll have the generic brand-centered network names, with characters after it. When a hacker sees your network is “Belkin20570245” or “Linksys72572” that means you haven’t done much to customize your network security, which means that you may be more vulnerable to hacking attacks.
Finally, turn on or upgrade your network encryption. WEP encryption is the bare-bones minimum you can do, but assuming that you don’t have someone actively trying to crack into your network, it can be enough. The better path is to use WPA or WPA2 encryption, which should provide ample encryption to protect your computer from most threats or unwanted visitors.