This is a brief guide to making your AT&T DSL internet as secure as possible without having a Masters Degree in computer science. For this tutorial, we will be using Microsoft Windows© Vista. Other operating systems are pretty close to the same but each feature their own small variances.
· First, we need the IP (or Internet Protocol address). This is just like your street address. Your IP address is a number assigned to your particular machine. In this case, your wireless gateway. To do this, press the start orb (or start button) located in the lower left hand corner of your desktop. Select all programs, and then select accessories, and finally Command Prompt. This will open a small window on your desktop.
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Second, type ipconfig and press enter. This will bring up a list of information. Towards the top of this list, there is an entry that reads ?Default Gateway?, followed by a number similar to 192.168.*.*. This is the IP address of your AT&T Gateway.
· Next, we want to minimize this window. Don?t close it because we will still need information from this. Open your web browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari etc?). Once your browser is open, go to the address bar at the top where you would normally type a web address and type that ?Default Gateway? number in and press enter. That should bring you too your Router Configuration.
· Once you have this screen presented to you, click on the link ?Home Network? at the top. At the next screen, there is a section on the left that says ?Wireless Settings? and a button that says ?Edit?. On the next screen, you will be prompted for the password that you provided when you first activated your service. This will take you to a new screen called ?Configure the Wireless Network?
· On the top of this screen, there is a red box that says, ?Enable SSID Broadcast.? For those of us new to the computer world, your SSID is your Service Set Identifier. In plain English, this is your network name and this option lets you decide if you want everyone with a WIFI ready device to see your network name on a list of available networks. From a security standpoint, you do not want this information readily available. Uncheck the box to disable SSID broadcast.
· Continuing further down the page, there is another heading in red labeled ?Enable Wireless Security.? Check this box and your security options will become available. Now under ?Authentication,? there are a few different choices. Different types of networks call for different types of security but since we are dealing with your home network, we are going to totally lock it down. Your first choice, WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy, is the first type of Wireless security protocol created. With the technology available today, this is very simply to penetrate for the experienced geek. We want to use a different protocol called, WPA2-PSK or Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 - Pre-Shared Key, which is the most current and best defense for a small home network.
· Next, you have to make a decision. Will you be adding computers to this network a lot? If so, it would be best to choose a custom passphrase. Something difficult but something that you can remember. Now we must remember; weird spellings and the use of symbols to replace letters is a very good idea when creating a password. There are tools called Dictionary attacks in which a computer program will run through an entire dictionary of words to crack a password. Microsoft loves to show the phrase ?P@ssw0rd? as an example of a strong passphrase. Capitol letters, symbols, lowercase letters and numbers are all included. ?Sk8tb0@rd? is another famous example. Now, if you are not going to be adding a lot of computers onto your wireless network, your best route is to check the box labeled ?Use Default Encryption Key.? For your particular AT&T Gateway, there is a specific serial number listed on the bottom of the Gateway itself. This is your preset password should you choose to use it. This password, of course, would be extremely difficult to guess and would not be readily available to anyone unless they were actually holding the router in their hand.
· Finally, hit the save button at the bottom of the screen and close the browser window. Your network is now as secure as you can get. Also, as an extra mode of protection, please make sure that your Windows© Firewall® is on and running.