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February 7, 2010

Calm down — don’t get paranoid

By Greg Bott The Meridian Star The Meridian Star Sun Feb 07, 2010, 08:30 AM CST

MERIDIAN — Saying "Don't get paranoid," is a lot like saying "Calm down." Both usually have the opposite effect. So don't get paranoid about your neighbors piggybacking off your wireless router or the car that's been parked in front of your house for hours, again.

    Most people get it wrong when it comes to wireless security. You're not trying to protect the use of your limited bandwidth. We're not worried about your neighbors downloading large files and making your network slower (which is entirely possible and rather irritating). The real concern is much greater.

    If your network is unsecured, your neighbors (or anyone in range of your wireless signal) can capture all information that travels wirelessly. Let that sink in for a second. That means the content of every e-mail as well as all user names and passwords you enter on the web are at risk. For example, are you a Facebook user? Facebook's login page is NOT encrypted--that means that if someone is capturing your network information they can obtain your Facebook user name and password. The good news: all reputable financial institutions encrypt their web page logins to help prevent such an attack.

    How can you know if your network is unsecured? If you never had to enter a network key when connecting to your wireless network, you're probably at risk. Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself and reduce the paranoia:

    1. Password protect your router. Security is enabled using your wireless router (that's the device that might have Linksys or NetGear printed on it and one or more antennas attached to it). The default user name and password are well known, so change them. I was going to suggest changing them to something you'll remember, but we both know you won't remember it, so just write it down where you won't lose it.

    2. Enable wireless encryption. Encryption is what jumbles up the content of your communication so that would-be hackers can't read what you're sending. Use WPA or WPA2. Don't use WEP. I'd tell you what those acronyms stood for, but you're not interested and only get six hundred words for this column.

    3. Change the default SSID. The SSID is the broadcast name of your network. Avoid using identifying information such as your first or last name because that gives hackers information about how to hack your network. Most people use birthdays, kids/grandkids' names, birth years, etc., for passwords, so don't make it easy by identifying your network as "The Bott's."

    4. Enable MAC filtering. This does not mean to remove Big Macs from your lunch menu (though that's a good idea, too). Every network device is assigned a unique number to identify it. That number is called a MAC address. You can tell your router to only accept connections from specific devices using that number. It's like configuring your phone to only accept calls from certain phone numbers.

    5. Turn on logging. This option varies by router and you will probably leave the reading of the log files to the experts, but if you call me and ask if someone has hacked your network, the first place I'll check is your router log, so turn it on.

    Before you say this is beyond your ability, Google "YouTube set up wifi" and watch videos that show how to do this step-by-step. You don't have much to lose making the attempt because unlike plumbing or electrical work, if you really screw up, nothing gets wet and no one gets electrocuted.

    Technically Yours.

    Bott Technology Solutions helps small to midsize businesses with computer technology needs and may be reached via e-mail at gregbott@bottinc.com or at 601-207-0509.

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