Secure Wireless Router Configuration

Linksys wireless router/firewall secure configuration example

If your router is already configured, jump to: Part 2. Computer Configuration.

Well, it finally happened. As of summer 2005 most full time faculty have received notebook computers. Whether you have received one of the Toshiba Tablet PCs or will be using one of the Dell laptops purchased last yes, each one is equipped with a built-in wireless network adapter. This web page is intended to help faculty setting up a secure wireless network at home.

Your IS department has done some research and we made a decision to recommend the Linksys WRT54G wireless router for home purchase. This page will help you to configure this device at home in a secure way. You can however buy any wireless router available on market and most of them will work for you, but we won't be able to support you with its setup and configuration. Other models may have similar interfaces however so this information might still be useful to those with different model routers.

The model we suggest features an Internet Firewall, network switch and wireless access point all in one box. This device will be the central point of your home network and will be connected directly to the Cable or DSL modems depending on the type of internet connection you have. For general information on setting up a home network, you can find useful guides on the Homenet web page created by parents and faculty on the CA Technology Committee. This particular page is only intended to help you to secure the wireless connection between your laptop and router. We can't stress enough how important it is to make sure your wireless network is secure. Yes, if you take the router out of the box and connect all the cables it will work with no additional configuration needed. But this is not acceptable since your network will be available to everyone in range of the radio signal your router emits.

The example given below consists of two parts. First, I will describe how to configure a router and then I will show how to configure the computer end.

Part 1. Router Configuration

Unpack the equipment. Connect the port labeled "Internet" or "WAN" to your Cable or DSL modem, and connect the power to your router. You may need to power cycle your modem in order to get it to recognize the new device attached. It will take less than a minute for the Linksys router to initialize. Next, it is the time to configure it.

Use network cable to connect your home computer or the new laptop directly to the Linksys router. Do not, I repeat do not try to use the wireless network at this point. Once connected your computer should receive an IP address and all network configuration from the router. To test functionality just try to browse the web. If you can hit any outside websites - congratulations you have the basic connectivity. If you can't-- check the cables, check the lights on modem, restart the modem (by power-cycling it off and back on), call your ISP if you have brand new service, call us if you feel desperate.

1. Ok, lets assume you were successful so far. Now launch your internet web browser and in the address field type: 192.168.1.1 and click Go or press enter.

You will be prompted with authentication login screen as on figure 1. The default user name - admin; default password- admin.
Every single hacker in the world also knows this information and later I will show you how to change it. Right now all we want to do is to type those defaults to get inside of the router.

Figure 1.

2. The next screen you will see is displayed on figure 2. There is really not much to change other than Time Zone information. The rest can be left with default values unless you know what you are doing.

Figure 2

3. Next step is to switch to the wireless tab in router configuration interface. There are 4 parameters on this screen and much needs to be changed. Please refer to figure 3 for all the information

3b. The Wireless Channel is basically the frequency your wireless network operates at. You don't have to change the default value and most people don't but you might want to do it. If you don't change it and it your neighbors will happen to have the similar devices operating on the default channel this might cause radio signals to interfere and lower the quality of connection.

3c. Wireless SSID Broadcast. By default the wireless router constantly broadcasts it's network name also known as SSID. So everyone around your house will know that you are running a wireless network, which you may or may not care about. You can disable SSID broadcast. The downside you will have to know what the wireless network name is to connect to it.

3d. Wireless Network Mode describes what standards the wireless router will comply with. By default it is set to mixed which means both newer 802.11g and old 802.11b devices will be able to connect to your router. Your Toshiba tablet is equipped with 802.11g network adapter so you can change mode to G-only, but if you will want to connect older laptops that can only operate using the B-standard you will have to change it back to mixed.

3e. Wireless Network Name. This option you must change. This is the name of your wireless network. Default value is LINKSYS and again every single hacker in the world knows that. Just change it to something else, doesn't matter what you call it, just change it. Oh, and make sure you remember what the new name is, especially if you've disabled SSID broadcast in step 3c.

At the end simply save the settings by hitting the save button.

Figure 3

4. The next and probably the most important step is setting up wireless security. Please refer to figure 4 for all the details.

4b. Security mode. There are several options you can choose from. If you only operate newer 802.11g client devices then you should choose WPA Pre-shared key mode (also known as WPA PSK). If you have both 802.11b and 802.11.g computers at home WEP is the only options you can use. WEP however is not very secure and can be easily exploited. We will only consider WPA option in this example.

4c. The WPA Algorithm is how the network conversation will be encrypted. Two options to choose from TKIP and AES. Toshiba tablets support both and AES is more secure. However TKIP is supported by far more end user devices so you might want to use TKIP standard for better compatibility yet still providing good network security.

4d. WPA Shared Key is basically the password that both router and laptop must know in order to establish communication. Type any password that you can easily remember here. You will have to type the same password when you configure wireless settings on the laptop.

4e. Group Key Renewal. This option can be left alone.

Upon completion of these steps your wireless network is secured and ready to be used. Please refer to the section below on how to configure a laptop to establish wireless connectivity. However there are still few steps left to get over with here.

Figure 4

5. Advanced Wireless Settings There is nothing really needs to be changed on the rest of the wireless tabs so we will skip to the security and administration tabs.

Figure 5

6. Security Tab. You can leave default settings. All the default settings should be accepted with confidence here.

Figure 6

7. Administration management. This is the very last step you will be required to make changes at.

If you recall at the very beginning we were login in to the router using default password "admin" and this is the page where you must change that default password to something else. Save settings, close internet browser and now it is the time to configure wireless settings on tablet or laptop.

Figure 7

Part 2. Computer Configuration.

This part is rather short and here is what you need to do.

1. Open Control Panel and launch "Network connections" applet. Right click on "Wireless Network Connections" and choose properties. In new window select "Wireless Networks" tab. You will get the window shown below:

Figure 8.

2. In the preferred networks list you will see all the wireless networks you computer participated with. Click on the "Add" button to add a new wireless network. New windows should appear similar to one on figure 9. That is where you must make all the changes.

a. Make sure that network name corresponds with the network name you have assigned to your router in previous section.

b. Choose WPA-PSK as the network authentication method, (unless you chose an alternate method when configuring your router).

c. Choose TKIP for the data encryption (unless you chose an alternate method when configuring your router).

d. Type network key (aka. password) exactly the same you typed it at the router configuration stage.

e. Hit OK to apply changes and return to the previous window.

Figure 9

3. You should get back to the window as in Figure 8 but now with your home network listed. If you click the OK button now your computer will try to establish wireless network connectivity with the router and everything was set up right and all the settings between the router and the laptop match you should be able to start using your wireless network.