Home Network Security 101

- Taped in beautiful British Columbia where Sean works on the set of Call For Help's replacement called Lab with Leo Laporte.
-For your basic wireless security needs visit episode 1.

- Before beginning you will need to pieces of information that can be found in your router's manual:

1) Default User ID and Password
2) Default IP Address of the router

- ROUTER SETUP TIP: Do intitial setup using a ethernet cable, not wirelessly. It's more reliable.
- ROUTER SETUP TIP: You can generally download a digital version of your router's user manual from the manufacturers webpage.
- A good master list for most brands can be found at http://www.tinyurl.com/2s4x9y.
- See some information for different routers at Practically Networked.
- Setting up your router:

1) Change your router's default user ID and password
2) Encrypt your wireless connection, perferably with WPA

a) WEP = Wired Equivalent Privacy
b) WPA = WiFi Protected Access

3) Disable remote management
4) Disable UPnP [Universal Plug and Play]
5) Disable WAN ping response
6) Change your network name or SSID

- Wireless networking IS, in fact, a very short-range radio broadcast.
- WEP can be cracked in about one minute flat.
- WARNING: Some routers allow you to create the WEP key with a passphrase.
- Make sure you are choosing WPA passphrase and not WEP.
- Your WAN address is also known as your external IP address.
- Check out episode 52 for more information on port forwarding.
- SSID = Security Set IDentifier
- The SSID is the name of your wireless network.