How to secure my wireless Comcast home network?

Here are five ways to help you secure your wireless network from unauthorized access.

• 1.Download the latest firmware for your router

• 2.Change the administrator password

• 3.Change your SSID and turn off SSID Broadcasting

• 4.Enable WEP

• 5.Limit access by MAC addresses
  
  

• Firmware is a software embedded in a hardware device, in this case the wireless router. The firmware might be out of date, so download the latest firmware to ensure that you get the best security possible with patches that might have been implemented later on. If you do not have the latest firmware, there could be security holes that might allow someone to hijack your Internet connection, view the files on network computers, steal passwords or credit card numbers.

• Updating of firmware is pretty simple. Check the website of your wireless router manufacturer for instructions on obtaining the latest firmware and on how to install it.

2. Change the administrator password

• All wireless routers are shipped with a common user name and password. It is very important that you change the user name and password immediately. To change the user name/password, look for a link Admin on router's configuration page.

3. Change your SSID and turn off SSID Broadcasting

• Your wireless router comes with default SSID (wireless network name). To make it harder for hackers to connect to your network, you should change the SSID immediately. You should turn SSID broadcasting off to prevent others from connection to your network.

• When you turn SSID broadcasting off, your wireless devices will have to be configured with the exact SSID that you have specified in your wireless router.

4. Enable WEP

• WEP is used to encrypt data making it harder for others to see what you are doing. WEP should be enabled. You should use the 128 bit which is the strongest possible key.

5. Limit access by MAC addresses

• Every network card has a unique address called MAC address assigned by the manufacturer. Set your wireless router to only allow connections from specific MAC addresses to greatly improve the security of your wireless network.

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