Wireless Security

When setting up a wifi network, wireless security is one of the most important aspects. Connecting a router or a wireless access point is fairly straightforward, with most of the configuration work done for you by the setup programs. But wireless security takes some understanding of the basic concepts, since you'll be asked to make decisions regarding these features. Let's take a look at some of the most common 802.11 g wireless security protocols.

WEP

Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP), as the name suggests, uses an encryption key to secure the network from unauthorized access. It's a somewhat outmoded protocol, as it's been found to not be as secure as was once believed. It has two levels, 64-bit and 128-bit. Both versions require you to enter either a case-sensitive passphrase, or four hex digits (0-9 or a-f). If your wi fi security consists only of WEP, it might be worthwhile to consider upgrading your hardware to a newer version.

WPA-PSK

A much stronger defense, Wi-fi Protected Access Preshared Key also uses a case-sensitive passphrase of your choice. The same phrase is entered into every device on the network. Any device that does not have the string of letters and numbers is denied access. The passphrase is alphanumeric instead of hex (0-9, a-z, A-Z). It's best to use a mix of letters and numbers, and not any obvious words, such as names or birthdays. A phrase or lyric can make a good string, with random changes of case to further complicate things. For example, the opening of the Gettysburg Address ("Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.") could be written as: 4Sa7yaoFbfotCanNciLad2tptamRca.

SSID

Knowing SSID means Service Set Identifier isn't important. What does matter is that it's an important tool in wireless security. It's the name of your network. Changing it from the default setting means anything wishing to connect to that particular wifi network must know the SSID. This uses up to 32 alphanumeric case-sensitive characters.

MAC Address

This is a unique ID code built into every wireless access point device. You can get the MAC address for each device in your network, and only allow them access. Any device not specified by you will not be permitted to connect.

So as you can see, there are several methods available to set up wireless security. Choosing strong passwords is a must, and enabling multiple methods at once (along with firewalls built into your router and installed on your computers) can drastically reduce the chances of your system being compromised. In our final section, we'll take a look at a range of Linksys wireless products, as an example of putting together a full package for your network.