Finally got broadband etc connected and want to get some decent security on my wireless router.
Is there any software in particular that I should use (zonealarm is giving me the shits by not allowing the network connection to be accessed even while on all minimum security)? Are there any particular settings I should have enabled.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Wireless network security help.
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Well, on the router you should enable WPA (or WPA2 if available) with preshared key (PSK) and set the key to something big (a passphrase is best here since the difficulty of the key is primarly its lenght and not the content). Kill any non-local network management on the router unless you see some really good need for it.
Use the router itself to connect to the internet so that you have the benefit of NAT (Network adress translation - basicly, if something comes from the internet to your IP without being invited, so to speak, the router will not know to which computer to relay it and as such will simply dump it - works great against worms
). It is a much more elegant solution in case you have more then one computer, as well. Be warned that that will cause problems with p2p programs or any other server software. You will have to configure port fowarding on the router and the same ports in the programs unless UPnP works (both the router and the program have to support it and sometimes there are compatibility problems).
What else... If you know that you will be using the wireless network with only a specific computer turn on mac filtering. Be warned that this is very easliy bypassed so its only a feel-good and defense-in-depth mesure.
On your computers you really shouldnt need to take any steps beyond having an up to date antivirus, antispyware with a properly configured router. Windows firewall is quite adequte for a firewall for home use with a router present and it is the most flexible in not fucking up your programs network acsess from what I've seen.
Thats what I can think of at the moment. I'm sure someone will come along soon to add to it a bit.
Use the router itself to connect to the internet so that you have the benefit of NAT (Network adress translation - basicly, if something comes from the internet to your IP without being invited, so to speak, the router will not know to which computer to relay it and as such will simply dump it - works great against worms
). It is a much more elegant solution in case you have more then one computer, as well. Be warned that that will cause problems with p2p programs or any other server software. You will have to configure port fowarding on the router and the same ports in the programs unless UPnP works (both the router and the program have to support it and sometimes there are compatibility problems).What else... If you know that you will be using the wireless network with only a specific computer turn on mac filtering. Be warned that this is very easliy bypassed so its only a feel-good and defense-in-depth mesure.
On your computers you really shouldnt need to take any steps beyond having an up to date antivirus, antispyware with a properly configured router. Windows firewall is quite adequte for a firewall for home use with a router present and it is the most flexible in not fucking up your programs network acsess from what I've seen.
Thats what I can think of at the moment. I'm sure someone will come along soon to add to it a bit.