I see it all the time. A wireless network named “motorola” or “linksys”, with no authentication required to access it. This is common in residential areas. Sometimes even in office buildings. People or business set up a wireless network and leave it at all the default settings and don’t add any sort of authentication.
You might notice, if you already have a wireless enabled computer and a wireless internet connection, that there are many other networks besides yours that show up when you check the available wireless networks. When I connect to my wireless network at home, I also see a couple of unsecured networks. This makes me chuckle every time I see it.
The first things you should do when getting your new wireless modem or router hooked up are the following:
- Change your SSID from the default to some other name. Don’t use a name that directly links the network to you (such as “ralphswirelezz”). Even turn off broadcasting of the SSID if you want to take it a step further, or are able to with your equipment.
- Change the admin password to log onto your wireless modem or router.
- Enable at the very least WEP authentication
Why do you see so many unprotected networks?
Usually the reason that a wireless network is unprotected is that the person that runs the network is oblivious to the fact that they should probably secure their network.
Most cable companies don’t configure your wireless network for you when you sign up for high-speed cable internet services. They just give you the wireless router and plug it in for you at the most. Configuring your network to use some sort of authentication is a different story altogether.
What if you don’t secure your wireless network?
If you don’t secure your wireless network, chances are that you will probably at some point have somebody using your wireless network to browse the net or do other harmless things without you even knowing. There also is a chance that you could encounter somebody with the ability to decipher information that is being passed around on your wireless network, eventually compromising the security of password protected accounts and such.
There are a few ways to attack a wireless network. Some are passive and some are much more aggressive. Some people might just want to sniff around the network for kicks, some might want to actually try to steal information or use your network to perform other attacks anonymously. Not a good thing in any situation, really.
How do you secure your network?
It largely depends on specifically what type of equipment you are using to set up your network. Each type of wireless modem or router will have different ways to go about accomplishing the same thing: securing your network.
Here’s some good articles I found regarding how to set up secure wireless networks:
Get to reading some of these links, read the documentation for your wireless devices, and you’ll have your network secured in no time.
Remember, even using just WEP authentication is better than no authentication at all.
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