What is WiFi and How to Secure it ....

WiFi is the most popular wireless technology of present time .. it is a technology we use to connect to internet without need of any physical connection of wires , and i guess its the main feature of this technology .. technically its called IEEE 802.11 ( which is IEEE's project number 802 , group no. 11 ).. which has different versions ( A , B , G and the latest one is N having different bandwidth speed and range. )... all operate at 2.4GHz ISM band, which is a non-licenced band and free for use ... and this WiFi spectrum is devided in 14 channels, out of which only 1-11 are used at USA....

Now a days we use this technology everywhere , at home , at work or at school ... and due to huge popularity of this technology many devices are compatible in operation with WiFi ( PDAs or Gaming consoles like ,XBox , even Printers and Cameras !!! ) .... The basic difference between WiFi and Mobiles is , WiFi certified device can work anywhere in the world but mobiles can't right ?... but on the other hand , WiFi has a very short range limit , which is not in the case of mobile??? The graph shown below taken from wikipedia ,indicates that with WiFi we get perhaps maximum speed but less mobility compared to WiMAX or other packet switching technologies like , HSPA or UMTS ... but its relatively cheaper then later ones tooo .. right ??





Basic WiFi is a set of devices like , DSL/Cable Modem ( an internet connection ) and a Router ( a device which transmits signals and enables user to connect to internet wirelessly ) .. most of the Routers are also capable of connecting devices on LAN too ..

As a security ,at present WiFi gives use 3 basic type...

WEP- Wired Equivalent Privacy ... it is the weakest type of security and it had been already proved that this type of security can be breaked within 10-20 minutes !!!

WPA - Wi-Fi Protected Access ... its the presently popular and it provides good security ... comes in two general formats , PSK and RADIUS ... PSK is relatively weak compared to RADIUS and hence improper password selection may break it with little effort ..

WPA2 - WiFi Protected Access 2 ... Now a days , the latest WiFi routers are designed with WPA2 support which provides almost unbreachable security ..

Securing your WiFi ..

Like we know , WiFI will broadcast itself in air and so anyone can "sneak" into his/er network and use it for any malicious purpose !!! ... So when configuring WiFi , here are some "tips" to make your connection more secure ...

first of all , upgrade from WEP to WPA .. if you are having WEP security then better change it to WPA which is more secure then WEP ... for home use , generally we use WPA-PSK ( Pre Shared Key ) which is more vulnerable then other option RADIUS but its easy to setup then RADIUS so it is more preferred ...

As a preventive step , keep the password as long as possible and difficult to guess for others ( at least 8 characters ) .. with Number and Special Char. ( * , % , / , # etc... ) it will make more secure ...

Another Option is to hide your Network !! , The network name is know as , SSID , don't keep it default , change it as you like , and there must be option on your router's setup page to hide that SSID broadcasting , so others will not see your SSID at all !! ( well , still there are some software available which can "sniff" presence of your network !!! ) ..

Also , you can restrict access to router by allowing only selected MACs ... Media Access Control is a unique hardware ID of devices ( e.g. laptops , PDAs ) .. by selecting specific MAC to connect to router , you can always restrict others to connect even if they have your network key !!!

So, these are couple of things that you can follow to make secure your connection.. on Internet there are several software are available for testing security of wireless networks .. like BackTrack .. or Aircrack ..


So , be careful and Njoy reading .....