Securing
Wireless Network with
WPA
We also offer network
and wireless support solutions
for your home office or
small business.
It is important to secure
your home wireless network.
Checklist:
1. Disable the SSID
broadcast.
Disable your wifi router
from broadcasting it's
wireless network name
2. Implement MAC address
filtering
3. Change the default
password on the access
point
For example, SMC broadband
router's default password
is "smcadmin".
Change this to something
else.
4. Use encryption, WAP.
What is WPA? (A more
secured protocol to protect
your wireless network)
The WPA (Wi-Fi Protected
Access) protocol is a
powerful, standards-based,
interoperable security
technology for wireless
local area networks (subset
of IEEE Std 802.11i draft
standard) that encrypts
data sent over radio waves
and is designed to be
forward-compatible with
802.11i when it is finally
published.
The WPA protocol has
been developed to overcome
the weaknesses of the
WEP (Wired Equivalent
Privacy) protocol.
In what ways are WPA
better than WEP?
WPA seems to be a good
improvement over WEP by
providing improved encryption
and simple, but robust,
user authentication, that
even home wireless networkers
will be able to use
Does it cause speed
difference?
There is only a slight
difference in speed, but
is not noticeable. The
slow down in the local
network speed does not
matter at all. Your wireless
network will not become
the bottleneck anyway
as your bandwidth from
your ISP won't be anywhere
near 11Mbps.
Why do I need to bother
using WPA if it causes
a little slowdown in speed?
The security gain by
using encryption far outweighs
leaving a open access
point at factory defaults.
What is WPA? (A more
secured protocol to protect
your wireless network)
The WPA (Wi-Fi Protected
Access) protocol is a
powerful, standards-based,
interoperable security
technology for wireless
local area networks (subset
of IEEE Std 802.11i draft
standard) that encrypts
data sent over radio waves.
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