Making sure that you have a safe and secure Wi-Fi experience is easy and won't cost you anything but a little time. Here are some key tips to follow:
Secure your home network: Many who purchase wireless routers don't realize that their network is open until you enable security – meaning that anyone in the area can gain access to your Wi-Fi signal and the devices logged on to it. Turn on the security features of your network and consider installing a commercially-available firewall.
Protect yourself when using a public hotspot: Free public hotspots are by nature "open" and unencrypted. To reduce your exposure to unwanted risks:
- Make sure that you are connecting to a legitimate hotspot – those that require a password have more protection than those that do not.
- Use a virtual private network or VPN, which establishes a private connection across the public network. This may be supplied by your employer, or you can purchase one.
- Surfing the web and sending e-mail is fine, but doing your banking for example in a public hotspot is not advised.
Configure for approved connections: Many devices sense and automatically connect to any available wireless signal. To regain control, simply configure your device to not automatically connect to an open network without your approval.
Disable sharing: Your Wi-Fi enabled devices may automatically open themselves to sharing / connecting with other devices. File and printer sharing may be common in business and home networks, but you can avoid this in public networks.
Install anti-virus software: When connecting at home or at work, it's safe to assume that the other computers on those networks are protected against viruses. When using a public hot spot you have no such assurance, which makes it more important to have antivirus software installed.
Use a personal firewall: When connecting to a public hot spot, you are joining a network with other unknown computers, which can increases your exposure to unwanted risks To protect yourself , run a personal firewall program, which are easy to install and in some cases free.
http://www.wi-fi.org/secure_your_wi-fi
Try to avoid using WEP and use WPA , WPA is much more secure than WEP (which can be cracked in less than 2 minutes)
always informative!thanks!
April 15, 2009Protect your home wireless networksNo matter how friendly you are, you wouldn’t let your neighbor read your bank statements and private letters. If you have a wireless network in your house and don’t protect it, you could be doing just that. As they come “out of the box”, most wireless networks let anyone in range connect to them and that could also let them see your PC and your email. It is worth taking a few extra minutes when setting them up to enable the encryption settings. Briefly, if you don’t understand the jargon, WPA is better than WEP.http://www.sans.org/tip_of_the_day.php?utm_source=offsite&utm_medium=misc&utm_content=Offsite_Link_twitter&utm_campaign=Tip_of_the_Day&ref=39148