Prevent someone else from using your wireless Internet connection

Posted on December 4, 2008 at 5:23 am

Prevention is better than cure, its so true for securing your wireless Internet connection. In this post I will tell you what all you must do to prevent misuse of the Wireless Internet connection by someone without your permission.

Such unauthorized use of Internet connection can not only cause monerty damage, but can also be used for identity thefts and other cyber-crimes. It can mean stealing your Internet Banking passwords, credit card details etc.

I am going to list down the 5 most important things you should do after you set up wireless connection:

1. Make Connection Secure:

Securing the wireless Internet connection means to use some encryption on data and use of password authentication to access the Wireless Internet. Go to Security options on your router control page and make the connection secure. This interface may vary from brand to brand, but the concept is more or less the same. For example in my Netgear router, the option look something like this:

We recommend WPA or WPA2, along with a strong Pass-phrase or password. A good password will be one which has a mix of upper-case,lowercase and special characters. After you make these changes on your router, you have to make corresponding changes on your Laptop or Desktops which access this router, to use same encryption settings and same password.

For example, on myWwindows Vista laptop, I go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Manage Wireless Networks > right click on name of network > Properties, it will look something like this:

This will restrict your wireless Internet connection from being used without password authentication.

2. Disable SSID Broadcast

Disabling SSID broadcast is like making the router silent, it will not tell anyone that the router is around, unless someone tries to call its name( or IP address). To disable SSID, go to the control page of your router, look for SSID broadcast option and simply disable it, see the example below for the Netgear router, on this control page, I have to un-check the “Enable SSID Broadcast” option:

3. Enable Firewall On Router If Available

Some routers have in-built firewall option, if that is available, turn it on, it will help secure your computers from being hacked even if someone gets to access your network without your permission.

4. Change Administrator Password

It is very important to change the administrator password of your router, because certain brands of routers have certain default username password sets that hackers know very well, so if they get till your network, and you still have the default passwords set, they can steal your important data. For this, look for some set password/change password option on your router control page, for example, on Netgear, its something like this:

5. Turn-off Router When Not In Use

Not only does it saves on your power bills, but also, will help keep it secure, for example in my case, I use Wireless Internet at home only for 5 hours a day, so I turn it on for that time, and keep it turned off for rest of the day when I am away for work.

Hope you will find these tips useful.

This is a guest post contributed by TroubleFixers – All about Fixing Computer Troubles. This is a blog which provides solutions to computer problems. You can find their RSS feed here or free Email updates here.

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

8 Responses to “Prevent someone else from using your wireless Internet connection”

Ralph Law said on : December 5th, 2008 at 11:36 am

OMG.. this is helpful! My neighbor for the longest had his linksys router open to anyone who wanted to use it. I had to tell him about this link so he could lock it down. Thanks for the info, saves me time from explaining all of this to him in person. Just send him the link to this post!

Kevin said on : December 5th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

If you want to figure out OpenVPN, you can also do OpenVPN to a wired Windows or Linux computer, and relay all your traffic through Openvpn (see: OpenVPN.net – freeware).

Another idea, secure all Wifi connections by assigning static IP addresses to the Wifi computers (consistent with the router’s addressing scheme), and then turn off DHCP server on the WiFi router. If someone breaks your encryption, then he will have to be smart enough to figure out your IP addressing scheme with DNS as well. Otherwise, DHCP gives away the farm.

Also, PLEASE do change the router’s default internal IP address. Everyone knows, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 or whatever your router defaults to.

Also, check for your router’s firmware updates on the manufacturer’s website. The latest firmware has the latest security updates. – Not for the faint of heart.

Richard Leblanc said on : February 1st, 2009 at 7:58 am

Also if you have disabled DHCP on the wireless router and are running a dhcp server one of the connected machines you can limit the amount of available addresses to what you need locally. In my case for example I need one address for my daughters machine that is on all the time and a second address for a machine I use as a media station connected to the LCD display in the living room. So I have 2 address available only.

Kevin said on : February 6th, 2009 at 2:23 pm

Good point Mr. Leblanc. I do this too with some freeware DHCP server, and I have NO dynamic address, only server-assigned IP addresses from DHCP.

Ronnie said on : February 13th, 2009 at 2:28 am

This might as well have been in latin for me. It sounds easy, but when I get down to it things don’t look the same…..it’s all sooo confusing. My husband has no idea what he’s doing either. It’s like the blind leading the blind here. HELP! ilovecandles@ ymail.com

Kevin said on : February 13th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

Ronnie, you could use some help from someone you trust in your area. It doesn’t have to be paid assistance, but that would make your solutions more professional. There are likely lots of computer geeks in your area that would help you just for the fun of it, or at least a few slices of pizza. You may want to ask around at your church or other social organizations.

You may not need something very sophisticated if you live in a very remote area. Much of the concern over WiFi comes from more densely populated areas, where people are likely to be close enough to your WiFi to hack away.

Just some ideas.

John said on : June 20th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

At the picture where your at the wireless network settings it says “encryption type”. i changed it to none and then my internet stopped working.when i tried to fix it it needs my network security key.i dont know that.
PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

jhunyl said on : September 26th, 2009 at 2:03 pm

What can I do if the hackers changed the password on my router?? Is it still possible for me to access it???