Technology Advisor

[#1]

Lots of small businesses have a need for more than one computer, and chances are if you have more than one computer then you will want them all connected to the Internet.  Unless all of your computers just happen to be located near each other, then I am betting you have a wireless router.  Today’s wireless routers are fairly inexpensive and easy to setup, but they do not come with security configured by default.  So unless you’re willing to risk someone possibly gaining access to your sensitive business data or using your bandwidth, then you need to configure the security of your wireless router.

The first task in securing your wireless router is to turn on encryption.  When it comes to enabling encryption there are several standards to pick from, and you should pick the strongest standard supported by all of the computers that will be accessing your router.  This usually means that you should try and use WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) before using WEP (Wired Equivalency Privacy) because WEP has some well known weaknesses.  However it is better to use WEP than nothing at all if you have computers that do not support WPA.

Routers usually have a built in webpage that allows you to configuration the device.  To access this administration site you will need to supply a user id and password.  The default password that most devices are shipped with is usually considered weak.  In some cases they are as simple as “admin” or “password”.  These default passwords are well known by hackers and should be changed immediately.  When changing the password you should create a password that consists of upper and lower case characters as well as numbers.  If your router supports it you should also use special characters (e.g. *, ?, ^, #).

Many routers allow you to administer them over the Internet.  While this may be a convenient feature it means that anyone around the world can potentially gain access to your router.  Unless you really need the ability to access your router remotely you should disable this feature.  In some cases this setting is turned on by default so it is best to double check it.

Just making the changes listed above will make your wireless router more secure.  However there are other things that you can do to gain even more security.  These changes include disabling SSID (Service Set Identifier) broadcasting, enabling MAC address filtering, and using static IP addresses.  Using these techniques however will require more effort in setting up, connecting to, and maintaining your router.

Additional information on securing your wireless router can be found at the following links:

http://www.firewallguide.com/wireless.htm#Wireless_Security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_security

Doug Mulkey

Principal Software Architect

Message Edited by Doug on 01-06-2009 03:18 PM

[#2]

Thanks for the outstanding article on wireless router security. You would not believe how many small businesses routinely leave their wireless devices installed with a default configuration with wireless security turned off. In an area where every business uses the same telephone company device, it is a real problem.

Since this is a Peachtree forum, I might add, users will be very disappointed running Peachtree across a wireless network connection. Stick to the cables, so Peachtree sizzles.

[#3]

Very well written article, even though information for securing wireless networks has long been available people have continued to not secure wireless networks.  Even when consumer device manufacturers have shipped the wireless access points preconfigured with security features people still disable them.  Unfortunately users will always opt for ease of use over security.  With proper education they will hopefully realize the risks that an open access point presents even a residential one.