home wireless router good practices for security

From: Steve (securityfocus_at_delahunty.com)
Date: 12/30/03

  • Next message: Jason Coombs: "Re: compromised network" 
    To: <security-basics@securityfocus.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 13:32:39 -0500

    So I went out and purchased a wireless router (Linksys 802.11b) for home
    since it was so inexpensive and actually less cost than the wireless access
    points I was trying to get via eBay. Got it home, installed my wireless
    network card (SMC), powered on the router, attached it to a port on my other
    wired linksys router, and boom it worked great. Then about 5 minutes after
    I sent an instant message to my neighbor (fellow IT friend) he was on my
    network. So I took the steps that Linksys recommends below, seems good (to
    me).
        Change the default SSID
        Disable SSID Broadcasts
        Change the default password for the Administrator account
        Enable WEP 128-bit Encryption
    Linksys also recommends these other measures, I have not implemented:
        Enable MAC Address Filtering
        Change the SSID periodically
        Change the WEP encryption keys periodically.

    My Questions:

    1) Anyone know how much enabling 128-bit encryption will hurt my wireless
    performance?

    2) Does setting the SSID for my wireless NIC then keep me from getting onto
    other wireless networks like when traveling? I ask since that setting was
    set to ANY before I changed it to the SSID that I set for my wireless
    router.

    3) What else should I really do to protect my home network?

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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  • Next message: Jason Coombs: "Re: compromised network"

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