Derek has been communicating with me regarding his home network security. I feel network security is important so I’ve decided to dedicate an entire article to keeping your home and business safe. As exterior door locks are critical security tools for preventing home intrusions; computer network security is important to preventing your critical data from being intercepted. It’s fairly easy to secure your entire network – preventing intruders.
Wireless security is perhaps the easiest way someone can intercept your data. Without some basic encryption in-place a hacker can easily monitor incoming and outgoing wireless traffic and see exactly what’s happening on your network. If I decide I want to surf to Craigslist and start looking at used cars, a two way signal is transmitted from my computer to the router. With some free software the data can easily be intercepted, decrypted and made into useful text.
All routers sold within the last five years have at least two types of wireless security available. Out of the box, however, the routers are completely insecure. To enable security on an existing router based network you should refer to the router’s manual. There are two major types: WEP and WPA. WEP is the most basic and is probably fine for most people in rural areas. WPA is a more secure option because it’s harder to decrypt the transmissions.
I have setup networks for some professionals who require the network be named something other than their name or business name. An example of such was a police officer who required the network name be different than his last name. This prevents a hacker from locating his personal network because of his profession. The name of your network can easily be changed using the SSID field in the router software. I used to discount SSID information until more and more people started requesting separate names from their own.
Currently, I’m in a small cottage at Hampton Beach. I just took a five minute break and took a look at the networks in my area. Out of seven networks I can see with my laptop, five of them are unsecured. Out of the five that are unsecured, I was able to easily penetrate all of them and get basic system information about the connected computers and all files being shared. Five minutes is all it took to scan all five networks and get basic information. Imagine what I could find in 10 minutes.
Good virus and firewall software is necessary as well. There are a number of good virus titles which include a firewall. The very best of the bunch is Norton Internet Security 2010 which is around $40.00 followed by Antivir which is free. A good firewall blocks intruders from scanning your computer by securing unused ports on your computer – as well as turning ports off that are not being used.
Windows 7 includes a feature which allows printer and file sharing by default. Although a special password is required to connect to other computers, I have heard of people connecting to them on the network by bypassing the authentication requirements. To turn off the network sharing features in 7 is pretty easy. Within the network section in Windows control panel is an advanced option to turn off network discovery. This is fairly easy and may provide added security.
As I was writing this I started thinking of many years worth of tricks and tips. I have had to rewrite this article a handful of times, weeding out the not-so-critical points. It’s a good idea to start with your router and work your way to the computer using the points I’ve outlined here. Good luck and keep your data safe.
Tip of the week: Blow out your laptop fan using a can of compressed air. This will make it run cooler as well as increase it’s life.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can e-mail him at Jeromy@LocalComputerWiz.com or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)