Wireless Network Security Measures for Home Users and Small Scaled Businesses

The internet has become a vital tool for research, communications and even marketing. Almost every company out there probably has an official website and there’s a continuous increase of businesses setting up a virtual office by launching online stores. It has transformed the way people shop and provided the public with a number of benefits. But along with these pros are a set of disadvantages as well and one of them is being exposed to a possible identity theft or online fraud due to poor internet security.

The rising number of cases arising from the lack of proper website security has forced companies to enforce stronger measures in order to ensure that the information provided by their customers are safe and protected. Establishing a strong website security gives the internet users the peace of mind but hiring the services of the professionals can be quite expensive. Most small scaled businesses and home owners often don’t have the budget to utilize the services of companies that specialize in web security.

The idea that only the websites of multinational companies and large scaled businesses are prone to hacking and other forms of security attack is entirely wrong. Your home computer might also be at risk and if you don’t take the necessary precautions, there’s a possibility of encountering a bigger problem in the future. Hackers do not discriminate and they can attack any website where information is unsecured. There are simple measures that home owners and small businesses can use in order to make sure that their wireless security network is safe and secured, the best part is that you won’t need to spend money to do this.

1.    Change the default name and password. Routers come with a default username which is normally the brand name. It is very important to change such information once you have set up your wireless network. Having a password or a security key also keeps unauthorized computers from accessing your wireless connection.
2.    Keep your MAC address filtering option enabled. This will prevent hackers from getting access to your internet connection as it only allows known users or devices to gain internet access.
3.    Secure your network by turning on the WPA/WEP Encryption. Encryption transforms information shared over the internet into codes that cannot be easily decoded or understood by humans. This ensures that any data transferred online are secured and protected.

These are just some of the basic measures that home and business owners can take as an initial step towards having a secured wireless network. In situations where you feel that your connection might have been compromised, it will be best to seek the help of computer and network security experts.