Guide | How To Is Your Router Easy to Hack? Learn How to Properly Secure Your Router

[Venustus]

If you’re like most people, you probably don’t give your home WiFi router another thought after checking to make sure it has Internet connection. But did you know that your home WiFi router is a crucial component to your overall security?

While a WiFi router means no more hassling with messy Ethernet cables, you could unknowingly be putting your data at risk of being intercepted if you don’t properly secure it.

When was the last time you checked which WiFi encryption you’re using? Perhaps you’ve been using Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) all this time without even knowing! Using WEP as your WiFi encryption is equivalent to using no encryption at all, as this flawed encryption standard can be hacked in a matter of minutes. To better protect your network, you should upgrade to WPA2, a newer and more robust WiFi network security standard. We’ll show you how to check which WiFi encryption you’re currently using and how to upgrade to WPA2.

First, what’s wrong with WEP?
Wired Equivalent Privacy or WEP was introduced in 1999 to provide a WiFi network with security comparable to that of a wired network.

WEP was widely used for years, but before long, it became clear that WEP security was about as strong as a wet paper towel. For example, in 2005, the FBI publicly demonstrated how it could crack WEP passwords within minutes. Once passwords are cracked, a hacker can do just about whatever he wants on your network or to your computer— including stealing your bank account information.

Though WEP was retired as a WiFi network standard in 2004, it’s still in use today, particularly by those with older computers and pre-2005 wireless network routers.

Bottom line: If you haven’t upgraded to WPA2, you should consider doing so right away.

Further Reading

Disclaimer:This is not meant as an advertisment for ZA

 

[Tony Cole]

My router password is 32 characters long, including special characters - it may be over-the-top but we once had someone using our internet

 

[Venustus]

My router password is 32 characters long, including special characters - it may be over-the-top but we once had someone using our internet

Same thing happened to me many years ago!
A great deal wiser now..!

 

[viktik]

i don't use any password in my router WiFi setup.
Its free for all . Anyone can join in and access the internet.

 

[Holysmoke]

I use this website to get a WPA2 password http://www.kurtm.net/wpa-pskgen/

this is an example of a password

Qwe99De}&dsmG56z<E|{iE?Bp}4,fz>5D,'-y'9{>9i[5m|"6j9R:5Y-?X"FtW"

use this website to check your password strength https://howsecureismypassword.net/

the above password would take a desktop PC about 6 duodecillion years to crack

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

i don't use any password in my router WiFi setup.
Its free for all . Anyone can join in and access the internet.

I am quite happy, albeit tardy, to have learned now we are WPA2 secure!

viktik, on the one hand I admire, and fully appreciate, your generous spirit of sharing (..so very MT!) yet, on the other (dark side of the moon) hand, I wonder about security, since I am not one of your lucky neighbors and am living on the outskirts of that sprawling internet veldt known as Los Angeles. I shall have to concoct as impressively bulletproof a 32 character password as @Tony Cole's because "over-the-top" has to be preferable to someone scoring that game winning goal into our bank account!!

 

[viktik]

All sensitive information should pass through SSL encryption . So even if someone tries to eavesdrop they will see encrypted traffic.

 

[Alucard]

I told my dad about this thread and he started to panic lol
I thought it was pretty funny.

 

[Maximum]

This is why i have mainly used WPA2 on my main router.

 

[eight]

This is why i have mainly used WPA2 on my main router.

WPA-PSK[TKIP] + WPA2-PSK[AES] On my NetGear.

 

[noladevildog]

Also, don't think that because you use MAC Filtering gives you any layer of good security. It doesn't.

All an attacker has to do is monitor the Wi-Fi traffic for a second or two, examine a packet to find the MAC address of an allowed device, change their device’s MAC address to that allowed MAC address, and connect in that device’s place. You may be thinking that this will not be possible because the device is already connected, but a “deauth” or “deassoc” attack that forcibly disconnects a device from a Wi-Fi network will allow an attacker to reconnect in its place.

More reading.
http://www.howtogeek.com/204458/why-you-shouldn’t-use-mac-address-filtering-on-your-wi-fi-router

 

[vivid]

As pointed out by openwireless.org,

"WPA2 and other Wi-Fi security schemes protect only against an attacker on your local network, and provide only nominal protection. Very often, "securing" your wireless network will not be enough to thwart a determined attacker on your local network from being able to read and manipulate your data. Therefore, the security loss from moving to an open wireless network is less significant than you might realize, especially if you set up your network to firewall users from each other—as we recommend in our tutorials whenever possible."
"Savvy network operators who are concerned about security can also set up their open networks to use a VPN service, if they have access to such a service or are willing to pay for access."​

You should also note that most or all existing router software have various vulnerabilities (eg cross-site scripting) and lack a secure software auto-update mechanism.

 

[Koroke San]

I also changed the IP address of my wireless router.