Wireless Security 101

Setting up a Wireless network can be confusing. Choosing the right security options can be just as confusing. Here are a few options to make your home network more secure.

• Never use WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), use WPA or WPA2.

This is a very simple option. It allows you to set a password that is harder to crack. People typically use their home phone number or cell phone number to make a password. This is okay most of the time, but consider something more complicated and then change it once a month. Go to the last set of instruction on accessing your router settings to find out how to do this.

• Consider additional features for security.
• My personal favorite is MAC (Machine Access Code) filtering. This allows you to take all the devices that use your wireless and set a list that only lets them access your Wireless.
• This makes it a bit more difficult for guests, but your frequent guests will only have to do this once.

First you need the MAC addresses of your devices

• On Apple OSx in the left column of the Network preference window that opens, click the name of your connection (e.g., Wi-Fi, AirPort, Ethernet, Built-in Ethernet). Click the Advanced... button, and in the sheet that drops down, click the Hardware, Ethernet or AirPort tab. The address is the string of letters and numbers next to "MAC Address:", "Ethernet ID:" or "AirPort ID:".  Write that down or copy/paste it to a notepad.
• On any edition of Windows either go to Run or your search bar (Windows 7) and type <cmd> into your search bar and then type <ipconfig /all>. Then look for the word "physical" under your the wireless adapter heading and record the number to the right of it.
• On a portable device such as Ipod/Ipad/Iphone go to Settings -> General -> About and you will see it there. Most devices have it under either About, Device information, About this Device or something like that.

Its tricky to write directions for this because each Internet Service Provider (ISP) has a different options screen. You will need to access your Router settings and then find your devices MAC address. Typically you can access your Router settings by typing into your browser's address bar your IP (Internet Protocol) address.

1. So just open a browser and Google "IP address", in Google it will show it above your searches or give a site that will show your IP address.
2. Take that number and type or copy/paste it into your address bar.
3. It will show you the opening page with your information, and either right then or after clicking on your security settings or Access restrictions it will prompt you for a password. Enter your Password and you will gain access to your router settings. Many routers especially Linksys or Cisco have you make an EasySetup Key on a USB drive. So if this is the case plug this in first.
4. So then navigate to Security or Access restriction and look for something that says Access policy or MAC filtering.
5. There will be either link to edit your list of clients or MAC addresses, in this area you will enter each devices MAC address, I'll show you how to find this later.
6. Once you have entered your MAC addresses make sure you tick the box that says enable.
7. Click Apply and/or save and that's it! You might have to hit refresh or reset your router first.