Broadband Guide

Wireless broadband security essentials

Updated: Tuesday 04 January, 2011

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Wireless internet allows you to connect to your home broadband no matter where you are in the house - you can even surf the web in your garden. However, you do need to take steps to secure your wireless network.

What if I don't protect my wireless network?

If your wireless network is left open, any passing user with a wifi-enabled device - such as a laptop or even just a smartphone - could simply access your broadband by parking up outside your house.

While this won’t cost you money, it could slow down your connection and, also leaves your connection wide open to hacking, allowing users to access your personal information, bank details and even see what web pages you’ve been visiting.

However, these risks are easily eliminated simply by adding a password to stop people connecting to your network, so this shouldn’t put you off going wireless. Watch our video guide on how to set up wireless security.

WEP - Wired Equivalent Privacy

WEP, or Wired Equivalent Privacy, encrypts data before it is sent over the internet, providing greater security and privacy. If you have set up WEP security on your wireless router, anyone wanting to gain access to your network will have to enter a password before they can get online.

However, WEP security is not the most secure form of wireless encryption available, and is relatively easy to crack. But if you have an older computer or modem, you might have to settle for WEP security rather than the latest encryption methods - which is still far better than leaving your wireless network completely unsecured.

WPA - Wifi Protected Access

WPA and WPA2 are the latest methods of wireless broadband encryption and are far harder to crack than the older WEP codes. However, this type of encryption is not backward compatible with all types of hardware so check which type of encryption you should be using before you set up your security.

Wireless Key Generator

Use our free Wireless Key Generator to create unique, hard-to-crack encryption keys and keep your broadband safe and secure.

Simply press F5 or refresh the page to create a unique 64bit, 128bit or 256bit WEP key, or a 64bit, 128bit, 256bit and even 504bit WPA key for even better security.

Access control

To take your wireless security to the next level, you could even create an access list of the computers that are allowed to connect to your network. This means that as well as needing the password to access your wireless connection, each user’s PC would also need to be on the access list. Check your router’s manual for details of how to set up an access list.

Wireless isolation

Wireless isolation allows you to make your PC invisible on your network by hiding the name of your signal service set identifier (SSID), preventing other users from being able to access information on your computer, even if they have hacked into your network. Wireless isolation is built in to some routers but must be enabled by the user - check your router instructions for details on how to do this.

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