Guidelines: Wireless Networking
Increasingly, for those of us with more than one pc, we are using wireless technology to network our pc’s together (indeed, given the freedom to move around the home a wireless network provides many with just one pc use wireless technology to connect to broadband internet).
However, most are simply delighted to:
- have installed their system and network
- have the computers share the network
- have the computers share printers
that they do not consider the need to set up even the basic security necessary to protect the network from unauthorised use.
Why is this important
Most of us would not notice the difference in performance if our neighbour was using our internet connection to surf the web. Most of us would not feel particularly concerned if someone else were downloading files from the internet. After all it is not going to cost us any more each month, and with connection speeds increasing and prices coming down it seems perhaps rather an insignificant concern?
Well, the truth is that for most ‘ad-hoc’ use we really should not be too worried, after all, our neighbour is a decent person and is not up to anything illegal. Except they are stealing the valuable 'bandwidth' which we pay for. And many internet providers operating a 'fair usage' policy, or limits on downloads, it may well be that your neighbours downloads, cause you to stop having access to the web, usually when you most need it.
If, like most people, you store information on your computer that you would rather others did not know (passwords, bank account details, children’s birthdays, mother’s maiden name etc) then leaving a network available for anyone to connect to is an open invitation to become a victim of that most modern of crimes, identify theft.
How is this achieved?
To do this requires a few modifications to the settings, of the wireless router (the thing that enables the computers to talk to each other), and to each pc.
The main method of securing your network is through the use of Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). This encrypts the traffic between the router and the pc’s making sure that:
- Data is not being read as it moved between separate computers.
- Data is not amended while being transmitted.
- Unauthorised users are not permitted access.
If you would like to discuss how to improve the control you have over your network, and access to your computers, contact to arrange an initial consultation.
Email: neal.umney@ithomepage.co.uk or Phone: (01280) 702523
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