RE: home wireless router good practices for security

From: Nick Duda (nduda_at_VistaPrint.com)
Date: 12/31/03

  • Next message: Simon and Sara Zuckerbraun: "RE: Local Administrators" 
    Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 07:30:42 -0500
To: "Steve" <securityfocus@delahunty.com>, <security-basics@securityfocus.com>

    Disable DHCP on the WAP and go static RFC1918's
    Harden your OS (numerous whitepapers on the net, google them)
    Virus Software
    IDS/Firewall software (BlackICE, ZoneAlarm..etc)
    ACL's on shares/permissions

    - Nick

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Steve [mailto:securityfocus@delahunty.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 1:33 PM
    To: security-basics@securityfocus.com
    Subject: home wireless router good practices for security

    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: Simon and Sara Zuckerbraun: "RE: Local Administrators"

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