I know a lot of people still run their wireless routers without any encryption whatsoever. You really shouldn’t do this. Why? Well, there are some people that use wireless networks to do malicious things. Maybe they’ll do a little hacking on your network, maybe buy some things with stolen credit cards, the list goes on. People with insecure networks often have the default password on their router, therefore anyone connecting to your access point can access your router! They could also be using packet sniffers sniffing out data you’re putting on the Internet. If you have a bandwidth cap, they’re stealing bandwidth you could be using.

Why leave yourself open to these kinds of threats? Generally all it takes is WEP encryption, which isn’t the most secure, but secure enough that most people wont touch it. Most router addresses are 192.168.1.1, some are a little different. You can look up these details on the Internet if you don’t have the manual handy. Just go into wireless security, WEP, enter a passphrase, generate, and select a default key. Then when you connect, insert that key to get onto your network. Simple as that.

Back when I was a wardriver, I found that almost 80% of wireless networks in my area were insecure. That percent may have changed, but I still see a lot of insecure networks out there. It’s unacceptable!