Wireless Router Security
In the page body below, we'll take a high level look at what it takes to make your wireless router secure at home. Your probably thinking, "Why worry about this stuff? I took it out of the box, hooked it up and it all worked fine!" True, it will most often work right out of the box, but you couldn't be more unprotected. In today's cyber world, that is defintely not a good thing. The last thing you need is someone outside your household downloading music or surfing porn on YOUR internet connection.
Keep in mind that a home router SHOULD NOT need to be your only line of defense for your home network. The router of course will protect you from the internet back into your home network, but.... what about from the perspective of your home network going back out to the internet? Are you sure your kids haven't mistakenly got some adware or something on your machine that may try to "phone home" when you fire the computer up? Your home based router will allow outbound connections that originate from the inside. At a minimum, I highly recommend antivirus software plus a software firewall as well such as ZoneAlarm Pro($$) or Comodo(Free) if you are running Windows XP/Vista/7. A combination package(antivirus and firewall) that was re-written from the ground up is Norton internet Security (v.2009 and higher). I'm running it on a couple of my machines with no issues at all. The Windows 7 Firewall does a pretty decent job on its own, but I still play it safe there also. For Mac Users, the Apple firewall (ipfw) works fine after setting it up (Out of the box is not the most secure configuration).
You're probably wondering what do I use???? Well here goes... For my Mac Pro (OS X Leopard 10.5.6) I run Intego's Internet Security Barrier which contains both Antivirus and Firewall. For my physical and Virtual Windows Machines (XP SP3 / Win 7), I run Norton Internet Security 2011. I still llike to evaluate other packages here and there to see if there is functionality that I am missing. I'm experimenting with Comodo now. It's very user friendly for the beginning user. Power users my be a little frustrated if they like to "tweak" things, but overall I'm impressed. For Linux, what can I say??? It's inherently secure if your work habits (not staying logged in as root for example) are good, but I do still play it safe here also. I use Firestarter for the firewall side of things and Avast for anti-virus. All secure.
Please note: Most all home firewall brands have the same functionality. The differences are mainly in the way each's options are presented and configured. Personally, I have used various Linksys and Dlink routers and will try to depict them as accurately as possible in the pages that follow.
For those interested, I currently am using the DLink DGL-4500 and have been VERY pleased with its performance both on the wired and wireless side of things. I've had my share of routers looking for the best performance, but it's wireless N performance is definitely top notch. I'll admit that the 4500 is a little on the pricey end. The DIR-655 is a great performing wireless N router also. It works great with Xbox 360 and PS3 also.
My Setup Details and Some Routers I Have Used
In the last 6 months, I've made some enhancements to my configuration here at home. I've moved away from the traditional consumer grade router approach as my border gateway to my home network to using one of my older PCs (3.2 Ghz P4, 2 GB RAM) instead as the border gateway/firewall running pfSense and Snort. If you've got a spare PC lying around and really want to get into firewalls, this is a great start. I'm working on a page for pfSense now.
Here is a little information about my setup at home. My internet access is via Comcast Cable. It performs pretty good for my part of town. 11-13 Mbps is pretty much a given. I'd love to be able to get FiOS insted of cable, but it's not offered here locally...yet. Anyway, I got sidetracked... Between Comcast and my home network, as mentioned above, I have pfSense running as my border firewall/gateway. My home network is a mixture of wired/wireless devices consisting of 5 Desktops (Windows XP Pro, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Windows 7 and Debian Linux), 1 server (Windows 2008 Server Standard), 2 laptops (Windows 7 / Ubuntu) and a few standalone devices (iPad, iPod Touch, Synology NAS). I run VMware Fusion on my Mac so working with multiple Operating Systems on it is a breeze.
Even though I have moved away from using the routers below as my primary firewall, they are still GREAT solutions for the typical home user. Below are links to security setup pages for a few of the routers I've personally used. Take a look at the pages below to get the basic idea for securing your home router.
Contact Me
Please feel free to drop me an email via the email link here. Take Care and God Bless!
Last updated on
January 9, 2011 2:12 PM