How Do I Secure My Router

These days it is important to safeguard Internet connection. Therefore, how do i secure my router must be a question lingering in your mind. If yes, then read further to know more on the same.
Security is one of the most important aspect of any browsing experience, however it is also one of the most neglected aspect as well. There are number of security measures, which can be implemented and the security efforts can go deep down, but often it is seen, that even the basic security measures are not implemented. Securing the Internet access has become all the more important with a number of banking transactions which we carry out over the Internet. One of the device, which needs to be secured is the router. It is actually a networking device, which interconnect two or more computer network and also selectively interchanges packets of data between the networks. Each of the packet data, that is exchanged, contains address information, which the device can use to determine if the source and destination of the packet exist on the same network or if the data needs to transferred over another network. Usually a router has two or more network interfaces, which may be connected to different types of physical network. Each of the interface is a specialized device, which converts electric signals. Since the router interchanges the data between the networks, it is obvious, that a user is faced with a question, like 'how do i secure my router'.

How Do I Secure My Router Connection

If you want to secure your router connection, it is important to know, there are different levels of security measures, which can be taken for the same. The levels of security include the physical and the hardware level security and the software and application level security.

Physical and Hardware Level Security
The first of the security measures to be taken against computer hacking is to secure the physical interface from any sort of unauthorized access. You will have to keep the device, the router in other words safely guarded. You may want to keep it in a lock protected case. This will prevent any unauthorized user access to the physical router interfaces, like serial port, console, Ethernet port, reset factory button or switch, etc.

Software and Application Level Security
There is a possibility that the physical and hardware level security can be breached upon. Therefore, you may also want to implement the software and application level security. One of the first measure, you will want to implement is to change the default username and password. Like is the case with any password, ensure that the password is not obvious to guess. It is always better to have a password, that is a combination of letters, numbers and special characters. This will make the password hard to crack.

Once you have changed the username and password, you will want to disable remote access to the router. In case, you cannot disable remote access to the router, then you will have to set proper authentication measures. You can either make use of the secure socket layer (SSL) or any other higher level of user access security measure. One of the measure, which you may want to take is to disable telnet, http, SSH (Secure Shell) and other remote access port from the device.

How Do I Secure My Wireless Router

How do I secure my wireless network is one of the question faced by the Internet users. These days most of us have wireless routers installed at home, hence "how do I secure my wireless router" has become a common query. The answer is right here.
  • The first step is to change the admin password, as most of the wireless routers come with a blank password, which make them more vulnerable to potential hacker.
  • Like the username and password, the default network name should also be changed, however, the new name should not be very obvious like the surname, etc., which will make it make it easier for the hacker.
  • The wireless should be made virtually invisible, so that there is no broadcast made to anyone else in the vicinity.
  • One of the default settings, which you will have to turn on is encryption, but you will have to configure the wireless router and wireless PC adapter to the same encryption.
  • To protect your router, you may want to update the router firmware and install it in the router. This will also help to fix any bugs, which have been found and also help with any known security flaws.
  • One of the most important step is to back up all the router settings. In case you have to reset the router back to the factory settings, you will be able to configure the router easily.
Once you know "how do I secure my router" and take the appropriate steps, you will be able to secure your network from hackers. However, you should always take measures to ensure, that the router is not hacked into, as the hacker has many more ideas and skill to penetrate into the router.
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Published: 8/5/2010
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