Home Wireless Security: No Need to Get Through the Wire

We have got wireless phones, wireless headsets, wireless microphones, wireless broadband and even wireless books. Indeed, anything wireless seems to be very popular these days. So it’s no wonder that home wireless security is becoming more and more popular.

Home wireless security (cameras, monitors and sensors) is attractive to homeowners for a number of reasons. For one, they have become very a very affordable niche within the home security industry. Wireless security cameras used to be just accessible to the rich but now, just about anyone can afford one. Second, by using these wireless devices, you can keep safe from intruders, thieves, and shoplifters. Remote security systems allow you monitor your home, even if your away. You can also avoid accidents as these systems can also alarm you should an accident be about to happen. You can also use the footage as evidence should something happen to you, your family, your house, or your property. Finally, because you do not have to deal with dozens of wires and cables, you can set them up easily.

Home wireless security may also pertain to your Internet access. And you can apply changes to your router to make sure that your Internet use is protected so that other people in close proximity to your router cannot gain access to your Internet, or worse, to your very own personal computer.

It is wise to implement changes in the default password of your router. Alter the password after you have run the installation and setup wizard of the router. You should also apply changes to your Service Set Identifier (SSID). Get a unique SSID to keep your Internet access from hackers and online intruders. You also have to carefully immobilize your SSID broadcast to further strengthen your security from hackers.

The normal IP address is set at 192.168.1.1. This is a well-known address, that not just hackers, but even ordinary computer users know it. If you will let this as it is, then you and your computer activities are in a danger of getting exposed to malevolent intruders. It is, therefore, wise to also change your IP address so that hackers and intruders will have a harder time breaking into your computer activities.

Encryption gives your wireless router enough security; therefore you should make use of it. Before doing so, you must consider its two types of encryption and which of the two will suit you better. On one hand, you have the Wired Equivalent Privacy or the WEP. It is considered vulnerable still after a hacker tries to break in to your system for a certain number of hours. Its passwords tend to be very long as well. But its advantage is that it is supported by popular router manufacturers like NIC and AP. It is also a better choice that having no encryption at all. On the other hand, there is the WiFi Protected Areas or WPA. It boasts of a big improvement from the WEP in the sense that it is regularly updated. It has also become the standard encryption since the first quarter of 2004.