Does anyone know how to change an unsecure wireless network to a secure wireless network?

Answer 1

Access your wireless access point of router using your web broswer as per your instructions, since you didn't mention what you're using I can't say exactly what address, username and default password you would use. First things first, CHANGE the default password.

Now you might want to change your SSID to something other than the default such as "linksys" or "netgear". You can also disable the SSID broadcast, but don't let anyone tell you that's a security measure. This is a common misconception. SSID broadcast supression is not meant to be a security feature, it only supresses the SSID in the beacon messages only and doesn't protect you from wireless attacks, turning off SSID broadcast is more to prevent accidental associations.

Next, you can select WEP (minimal protection) or WPA PreSharedKey (preferred). WEP is weak and easily cracked for someone who knows how to do it with the right tools and is within range of your network. I like to say "WEP keeps your honest neighbors honest" and leave it at that. Most secure is to use WPA PSK with the AES algorithm, and use a decent length key, a passphrase of some sort up to 63 characters, the longer the better. Whichever you choose, WEP or WPA, you'll configure this on both your wireless router or access point, as well as the wireless client machines themselves. If/when you install a PCI card in a desktop, or maybe a PCMCIA card in a laptop, you will use the client utility to connect to your SSID and provide the WEP or WPA info the same way. Or perhaps you have a laptop with a built-in 802.11 radio and you will use the Windows wireless network config tool... right click My Network Places and select Properties, then right click your wireless network connection and select Properties, then select the Wireless Network tab and you can configure it from there.

Finally, you can also use wireless MAC address filtering to lock down the access point so it will only accept frames from the MAC addresses you decide to allow. On your wireless PC bring up a command prompt (start, Run, "cmd") and give the command "ipconfig /all" and you'll see the MAC address of 12 hexadecimal digits. You can put this MAC address, such as 00:16:6F:7A:B8:15, into the list, and only allow those MAC addresses to access your network.

Hope this helps, good luck.

Answer 2

There is a couple ways. The easy way is to Put in the software that comes with your wireless device. That should walk you through it. If that doesn't work, Type in the default IP address onto the internet browser. This is while you are hooked up to the wireless device directly, or when you and the wireless device is hooked to the internet. I don't remember.. You should be brought to a page that has a lot of stuff on the device. Find Security. I am sure you know what to do from there.

Answer 3

Yes. Enable MAC Address Filtering, Do NOT broadcast the (E)SSID, and enable WEP or WPA/WPA2 depending on what your router supports.

Exactly how you do this depends on the wireless device you are using - which you did not post.