Wireless Network Security for beginner

Hello,

I hooked up a Linksys Wireless router for my laptop at home. My laptop has personal info of my employees on it so I am a bit concerned about security.
Can someone give me a quick guide on which security settings I should be enabling ? I don't really have the time to learn all the latest securities.

Thanks,
Keith

 

Basic Wi Fi Security

First change the settings from factory defaults.

1) Change the admin password
2) Change the ssid ( network name)
3) You may or may not want the beacon of the ssid broadcast.
some of the newer routers turn it off by default
but for ease of setting up your network you may want it on.
4) Change the channel from the default channel 6 .
You can use any of the others . However the only distinct non overlapping channels are at either end . Channels 1 and 11.
From time to time as your neighbours change their channel on their router of their routers are set to automatic you may have to change the channel. It is trial and error basically.
5) Turn on the encryption settings in the router and in the wireless adapters. You set an encryption code generally by a generator in the router and in some wireless card utilites. You enter a word and it generates the code. The code will be asked for when you try to log on from the computers.

There are various protocols
1) 64 bit wep.
the easiest to set up but it has been broken.
If someone has broken your 64 bit wep code I would think that this is the least of your problems.
2) 128 bit wep. Similar but a lot more numbers to enter twice
3) WPA - a newer and more secure encryption protocol. Older wireless adapters may not support it.

There are a number of wireless networking utilites for the computers and network setup. The one in Windows XP is standardized and very simple.
However it does not tell you a lot. Depends on what you want.

Hope this helps

 

I'm coming in late on this conversation, but I haven't seen any mention of securing your employees' data.
I hope you're more than "a bit" concerned; you're carrying data that belongs to other people. I don't think people's personal data belongs on someone else's laptop, especially someone who needs to ask about wireless security. I am not criticizing you for not knowing, nor intentionally singling you out. I'm glad you're asking. But your question underscores a problem that has allowed the several leaks of personal identification data that have made news (and how many others that haven't?) in the last year.

Most laptops have wireless links with all of their vulnerabilities. Laptops get lost or get left behind. Laptops get stolen. What happens to those people's data then? Besides wireless security (a 'hopeful' description, at best!), anyone who must put others' personal data on a machine that is not kept behind strong locks has a responsibility to secure the data itself. That includes:

• A strong login password for all user accounts on the computer
• No guest account.
• Encrypting the data. Virtual encrypted disk software can make this relatively painless. TrueCrypt is one such; there are others.
• Questioning the wisdom of a wireless connection at all. If you must use one, use a VPN at all times while you are wireless to secure the air-link. There are VPN providers who offer VPN for a small fee. PublicVPN.com is one; there are others.
• Disabling wireless whenever you are not actively using it.
• Keeping the machine behind a NAT router.
• Using a software firewall software on the machine.
• Always ensuring that the firewall software is up and running before allowing any network connection to take place. This does not necessarily happen automatically - my firewall is one of the last services to load, so I don't insert the wireless card until the firewall reports it is ready.

This goes beyond the question you asked, but it doesn't get said often enough, and it clearly needs to be.

-jeff-