Chapter 15: The Tin Can Bandwidth Expander Project

Final Wi-Fi Security Tips

Once WEP is enabled, you've achieved nearly all of the security that a Wi-Fi network can offer. Other measures are minor by comparison, but they're worth laying out again:

• Once WEP is enabled, you can turn off the SSID Broadcast beacon, and your network will be more difficult to find by drive-by hackers. Difficult is not the same as impossible, however, and as I've said elsewhere, the really dangerous hackers can find you, beacon or no beacon.

• If your access point or gateway offers you the ability to reduce the transmit power (alas, most do not), try turning down the power to the next lower level, and then see if all of your connected client computers retain their connection at full speed. If they do, you don't need the highest power level-and at lower power, your network will not be accessible from as far beyond your premises. Keep lowering the power until you begin to lose some of your client connections, and then raise it only to the point where all clients connect at top speed.

• If you use your Internet connection to connect to servers at your place of employment, inquire at your company's IT department to see if they can provide you with a virtual private network (VPN) connection to the company network through your broadband Internet connection. Configuring a VPN is beyond the scope of a book like this, but if your company can provide one, there are people at your company who can explain how to set it up and make it work.

• Every now and then, check on the Web site belonging to the manufacturer of your Wi-Fi gear to see if at some point they offer a firmware upgrade that will provide Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) support for your access point or gateway and client adapters. (I described WPA in Chapter 13.) If such an upgrade is ever offered, download it and install it. WPA is our best near-term hope for protection against drive-by hackers who exploit the weaknesses of WEP.

At this point, you have a network, functioning and (reasonably) secure. Nothing more needs to be done-but if you have a curious mind and are good with tools, there are some refinements to be considered, especially if you have problematic network coverage. Antennas, reflectors, wireless bridges-that's what the rest of this book is all about.