What is a router? Routers are connectors that are used to link different networks together. Routers can direct, or route, information to the correct destination.
What is a network firewall? A firewall is a system or group of systems that enforces an access control policy between two networks. A network firewall follows the same principle. It is designed to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing a private network. Why do we need a firewall? You need it to protect your system from unsolicited scans coming from the Internet and offer outbound control. An inbound scan may be looking for a Trojan horse on you system. Outbound controls watch for a Trojan horse or spyware trying to call out from your system.
What kind of firewall is embedded in routers? NAT (Network Address Translation) is often built into routers. If router or NAT receives each packet from the internal private network and modifies the IP header to match the global IP address of the router, before transmitting the packet to the Internet. The router stores the internal IP address, destination IP address and port number in a routing table so when a request is returned on the same port, the NAT can match the internal IP address that originated the request, and then modify the IP header to match that of the internal address.
What is encryption? Encryption is a mixture of either numbers or letters which is encrpyted in a wireless router or access point. There are 2 kinds of encryption, WEP and WPA. The more commonly used WEP for home networks have different numbers of encrpytion keys depending on either 64 bit or 128 bit. 64 Bit encrpytion consists of 10 alphabets or numbers while 128 bit encrpytion consists of 26 alphabets or numbers. Encryption helps to block out intruders from yur home network. but note tat, Expert hackers are known to break the encrpytion code in yur router. But it is unlikely you will meet such a professional hacker. However, it is the first level of security. Without encryption code in yur wireless router, any one near yur house could access yur home network freely.. This means, yur files and info transmitted is at risk. Hence, it is advisable to enable encrpytion in yur router.
Do note that, if encryption is enabled in a router or wireless adapter, yur network will be slightly slower due to added overhead.
What is WPA? It stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access. Wi-Fi standard that was designed to improve the security features of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). The technology is designed to work with existing Wi-Fi products that have been enabled with WEP.
Why is WPA better than WEP? it is coz it has Improved data encryption through the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). TKIP scrambles the keys using a hashing algorithm and, by adding an integrity-checking feature, ensures that the keys havenÂ’t been tampered with, and having User authentication, which is generally missing in WEP, through the extensible authentication protocol (EAP). WEP regulates access to a wireless network based on a computerÂ’s hardware-specific MAC address, which is relatively simple to be sniffed out and stolen. EAP is built on a more secure public-key encryption system to ensure that only authorized network users can access the network.
After setting up encrpytion in router, u need to set up encryption on the wireless adapter too.. Type in the same encryption key as u did for the router, into the wireless adapter.. Channel must be the same too.. Also make sure tat SSID Broadcast is enabled in the wireless router and type in the same SSID Broadcast name for the wireless adapter.. After doing all this, right click on the icon of the wireless router and click on " View Wireless Network" double click on yur home network to see if u can enter.. If u set everything up correctly, should be able to connect..
If yur wireless router has SPI ( Stateful packet inspection ), enable it because an SPI firewall incorporates packet filtering, whilst automatically providing rigorous inspections of all inbound and outbound communications. This protects your network against malicious attacks that flood your network with inappropriate packets/data.
MAC address filtering would be useful as it helps to block certain MAC address or only allow certain MAC address to enter yur network.. For example, only the MAC addresses of the computers in yur house. It is recommended that you combo MAC address filtering with encryption. Some of the routers provides Denial Of Service ( DOS ) protection.. if yur router supports this, turn it on.. These also provides extra security as well..
