It is very common, especially in large cities, that people who live near the location of our router can access the WiFi network without the corresponding authorization. This brings a series of inconveniences for our Internet browsingsince it affects, among other things, the connection speed.
There are different alternatives that we can use to improve security in accessing the wireless network that we can configure from the router’s control panel.
In this article we will indicate each of those options that you have for an efficient configuration of the router, as well as we will also show you the advantages of being able to use them. Also, We will give you the best tips to make your WiFi network a strength.
Why should I improve the security of my WiFi wireless networks?
There are different reasons why we need to improve the security of our wireless networks, many of them are due to the security of our privacy, but they also considerably affect the performance of our connection.
To clarify this issue a little more, we will mention below what these reasons are.
Regarding privacy. It is a subject that many people do not take into account, but when someone hacks a WiFi signal, this intruder has access to all the devices that make up the wireless network, being able to change configurations and extract data that put our privacy and personal security at serious risk.
Another point to take into account with security is that, when you enter the wireless network, you obtain the public IP address that the Internet operator gives us. If an intruder performs illegal acts on the web, they will be registered with our IP public, therefore, we could have serious problems.
Another point to take into account is the connection speed.. As we will see later, when third parties gain unauthorized access to our network, they greatly impair speed, since the bandwidth has to be divided among more devices.
Also, if that intruder configures our router to activate the tool “QoS” (of English Quality of Service) will be able to segment the journey of VoIP and video data packets.
With this, you will be able to indicate to the router that your equipment has priority over the rest, so we would be seriously affected in terms of navigation because, our own router is the one that is performing that quality of service according to the instructions given by the hacker.
How much can someone “steal” my WiFi affect my Internet speed?
The routers work with two frequencies, a 2.4 GHz one that has a range of up to 100 meters and has 13 channelsin which the different data packets travel between the devices and the router.
The other, higher frequency is 5 GHzwhich is much more efficient since it has 22 channels and a much better bandwidth, but its range is much less than the previous one.
These channels are like highways in which the data transits, if they occupy space, these information packets will travel slower. Therefore, the more members of a network there are, the slower the connection will be since it will be necessary to divide the bandwidth in all those devices.
List of the main tools to secure your WiFi connection and prevent someone from connecting to your network
Our router device has tools that we can activate or modify so that our WiFi network security is much more robust.
To do this, we will name which are these configurations that we can make:
Filtering by MAC address
When manufacturing computer equipment occurs, each supplier introduces in the network cards a unique identification number that is made up of 48 bits. These numbers are by no means repeated, no matter how much you compare computers and mobile devices.
Therefore, this is a good option to identify the participants of a network and to be able to eliminate them, indicating to our router which ones are authorized according to their MAC address.
The steps that we will have to carry out in a Tp-Link router are indicated below:
- We enter the router interface with our browser, for this we will write in the URL address bar “192.168.1.1” (If you do not know this number, we will explain it to you in the last paragraph of this section, as well as the MAC address).
- We’re going to “Wireless”.
- We look for the option “Access point”.
- we select “MAC Filters”.
- We activate the option filtered by MAC.
- We add one by one the devices with their different addresses.
- We click on “Apply”.
- we select “To accept”.
When we do not know what the IP or MAC address is to enter the router, we can carry out this guide:
- We’re going to “Start” in Windows.
- We wrote “cmd” (another more direct alternative is to jointly press “Windows+R”).
- At this point a DOS window will open.
- We write the command “ipconfig”.
- A series of data will appear and we will have to copy the one from “Default Gateway”.
Eject connected devices
We have an important alternative that the router offers us and it is identify the different computers that are connected at the time of analysis. In this way we can find out how many intruders are improperly in our network.
The instructions that we have to follow are:
- Once entered in the router we go to “Wireless”.
- We look for the option “Wireless Statistics”.
- A list of devices will appear and next to it an option to “Deny”we click on it and the device was ejected immediately.
password protocol
An important alternative is strengthen password encryption protocol and convert it to WPA2.
We will perform these steps:
- We’re going to “Wireless”.
- We look for the option “Wireless Security” and click on it.
- We activate the first alternative, “WPA/WPA2”.
- In Wireless password we write a password that is strong, trying as much as possible to include characters, numbers and upper and lower case letters.
- We click on “Save”.
Disable WPS button
We can enter our WiFi network not only with the password, but also by activating this button. Although it is true that we have to be in the presence of the router many times it is recommended to strengthen security to disable it completely.
Next, we will show you the following procedure:
- We enter “WPS”.
- we select “WPS Status”.
- We deactivate the option.
- We click on “Save”.
SSID broadcast change
The SSID is the name by which the WiFi network is identified and is available to everyone near the router. One way to increase security is to change the name, access password and leave it in invisible.
When we do this setup the network name will not appear on the devicesand they will not be able to enter, even if they use applications that crack passwords.
If we want to configure these elements we will do the following guide:
- We enter “Wireless”.
- We deactivate the option “SSID Broadcast”.
- We change the name to “Wireless Network name”.
To change the password, we will:
- We enter “Tools”.
- we choose “Password”.
- At this time we write the old data and enter the changes we will make.
- We click on “To accept”.
Tips to improve the security of your WiFi network so that you do not steal the Internet
Once we have identified the tools available to improve our WiFi security, it is advisable to follow the advice that we will mention below so that we do not steal the Internet.
They are:
Change factory SSID and password
routers come with factory preset name and password, even if we have acquired a neutral router or it has been delivered by our Internet service operator.
These data are available on the Internet and we can find it on websites like “Router Passwords Community Database”where we will only enter the brand of the router and an 8-digit number will appear with which we can try to access the WiFi network.
Also, There are apps for mobile devices. that use different PINs that they have stored in their databases to carry out a massive attack on the router and thus be able to access it.
When we change the name and password we will have prevented third parties from entering our network using these publicly available data.
Use Mac filtering
This tool offered by the router It cannot be disabled if we want to maintain restricted access to the WiFi network.
Thanks to this filtering, it will be practically impossible to access itbecause the router will force the device to display its NIC number.
Review device history
With the statistics function we can see which devices are connected at the time we carry out the study.
This instrument will allow us, in a very simple way, to know exactly all the members of the WiFi network and will allow us to expel them with very simple steps.
Use a strong encryption protocol
The stronger the encryption protocol, the more difficult it will be to gain access to the network.
When we spoke, in the previous points, that there are Internet sites and mobile applications that can decrypt the password, it is because use PINs that can access to the router, as long as the encryption is weak.
The most recommended protocols are in order of decreasing strength:
- WPA2+AES
- WPA+AES
- WPA+TKIP+AES
- WPA
For all this, it is recommended to keep the encryption in the highest protocols of the list that we mentioned above.
Install a third-party app
They exist in app stores, that can be installed on computers and mobile devices that will allow us to constantly inspect the network to which we are connected.
The most commons are:
- Who uses my WiFi, for Android.
- Fing, for iOS.
- NetCut, for computers.
Reduce signal range
A good alternative is to reduce the range of the WiFi signal, although it will not make it impossible for an intruder to enter, but it will greatly reduce the chances of an attack.
To be able to do this alternative, we follow these instructions:
- We’re going to “Control Panel” in Windows.
- we select “Device administrator”.
- We click on “Network adapters”.
- We select the WiFi card, click on the tab “Advanced Options”.
- we select “Potency of transmission”.
- we chose the value we wantin a range of 1 at least and 5 of max.
- We click on “To accept”.
invisible signal emission
We can configure from our router that the signal of the WiFi network does not appear on nearby devices. This is a great alternative that will greatly increase the…
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