On 2007-05-13, Petesmad <pete@here.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have recently set up a home wireless network using a adsl2+router which
> was supplied by my isp. Which I have set up with a long wep key, not sure
> how great it is but just followed the manual.
>
> Having read a lot of reports of wireless networks being "hacked" into I
> started thinking how safe is my computer.
>
> Can anyone offer any information in helping keep my wireless network safe.

Wireless router = Belkin Wireless G+
Wireless interface = Belkin Wireless G Desktop

I've just taken the plunge into wireless too, and after more hours than I
care to mention trying to get it to work right, I am glad to say I'm happy
with my set up. But like you, I am concerned with keeping unwanted
connections out of my wireless network.

Right off the bat, I changed the default SSID name to something other than
the manufacturers default, which is usually the manufacturers name. Getting
more adventurous, I turned off 'broadcast SSID' too. I'm quite sure that
it's still possible to discover a 'hidden' wireless network, but it makes me
feel better.

For administration via the built-in web server present on most routers, I
changed the default (blank) password to something more secure.

I have WPA capability on my router, so I turned that on and thought up a
considerably long and obscure passphrase for it. Basically I mixed nonsense
words with numbers, making sure I noted any case changes I'd put in ie. l
instead of L.

I did want to enable MAC (Media Access Control) filtering too, but I ran
into some problems there, so that's off for the time being. Even though my
router automatically puts in the MAC address of the machine logged in via
the web-admin interface, I wasn't sure if I was entering in MAC addresses of
my other PC, and that of the NIC in my main PC correctly. I was unable to
login properly after my initial attempts, so decided to leave that for
another time. I will concede that it could've been something else stopping
my access, but I'm not sure what it could have been.

As for my main PC, which hosts the wireless card, I made sure to the best of
my knowledge that I wasn't running any servers. File And Printer Sharing
went straight off, as I have no need for that. I am not running any other
listening services on this machine so I'm hoping that there's nothing to
connect into, as far as this box is concerned, if someone did successfully
'hop' onto my wireless network.

So that's it for now. Other than me messing up the MAC filtering, I am happy
with the set up here now. If I'm away from home for a while, I'll just turn
off the wireless router.

Hope this helps in some way.

Regards,

BH.