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Computer and Technology |
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“Secure Wireless Home Networks” Presented by Dean Steichen (Branch 8)
Our speaker at the November SIR CUG meeting was Dean Steichen of Sirs Branch 8. He traced the evolution from a typical home computer setup consisting of a single computer connected to the Internet by a modem to his recommended home network layout. This is made-up of one or more wireless computers plus one or more wired computers fed from a router. This comprises a LAN (Local Area Network). The router provides firewall protection against the WAT, the modem and Internet. Benefits of a Home Network include: shared Internet access, shared devices (printers, scanners, etc), shared files and data storage and ability to backup other computers data. For Internet access sharing the router provides default settings for NAT (Network Address Translation) and BHCP (Digital Host Conferencing Protocol) enabling one Internet address to be shared with several other local PC’s. The wired home network is similar to the wireless one complete with router for firewall protection. The benefit of the wireless one is convenience (no wires), flexibility (full PC mobility), cost (for 2 PC’s under $50 with 802.11b), and security (adequate if configured correctly). The recommended wireless configuration includes a 4-port wireless router 802.11G combination of wireless access point and 4-port router for wired connections. It provides firewall protection, address translation (NAT), DPHC, VPN Pass through, Content Filtering, Domain Blocking, Scheduling, WEP, and other security feathers. He presented an example of the critical item, the wireless router, in this case a D-Link 4-port wireless router. To secure your Wireless Home Network use a wireless router instead of a wireless access point. Change the default SSID, disable broadcast of the SSID, use 128 or higher WET encryption, use WPA encryption if available. He concluded with samples of router configurations and menus. |