When you have a wireless (or ‘Wi-Fi’) network, you have a device called a wireless router which connects to your phone line and, as a result, your broadband. This router constantly sends out wireless signals announcing its existence (a bit like a radio station), and any computer within range of those signals can try to connect to it (just as your radio can tune in to your county’s local radio station).In theory, that means someone living along the road, or sitting in a car down the street, could connect to your wireless network and use your broadband to surf the Internet – possibly doing all sorts of illegal things that would be traced back to your network. Theoretically, too, they could connect to any computers of yours that are connected to your wireless network and sift through your files. Stretching theory even further, they could potentially intercept and analyse information you send and receive over this connection, such as online banking passwords.
I know that all sounds horrible. But if those three theories could work in practice, no sane person would ever use wireless Internet! Here’s what prevents those three theories from becoming reality:
• Your wireless network should be protected with a password – indeed, it absolutely must be! In setting up your router, you’ll be prompted to choose a password for it, and no-one can connect to your network without first entering its password. This password is used to encrypt all the data that flies through the ether between your PCs and the router. Better still, and making this almost impossible to crack, the modern security system used by routers changes the encryption system frequently. Therefore, anyone trying to hack their way into your network is chasing a moving target. In truth, unless you’re MI5 or the Pentagon, it wouldn’t be worth all that bother!
• What about someone accessing your computers and files? Well, we’ve established that your router’s password keeps your network out of reach, so that keeps your computers out of reach too. But, even if you’d bizarrely chosen not protect your network with a password, Windows protects your files. The only files visible over the network would be those you’d expressly chosen to share with other network users.
• Third, what about the possibility of someone intercepting private data you send, such as online banking passwords? Well, again, this is all strongly encrypted by your network, and should be impossible to decrypt. In addition, websites like as your bank are secure websites: the password you enter is encrypted once by your browser, and a second time by your network, so it’s safe to regard this as quite impossible to decrypt. And, if someone down the road were monitoring this stream of data and trying to decrypt it, how could they possibly know which little fragment contains a password? Quite simply, even if they were also watching you type through binoculars, they couldn’t.
Out of all this, let me underline two points. First, you absolutely must use your router’s security feature by setting a strong, unguessable password for it. Second – and assuming you’ve followed point one – your secured network is one of many millions just like it around the country, so unless a highly-skilled hacker suspects you’re doing something particularly secret and valuable, there’s no reason for him to try to force his way in.
I’ll add one extra quick point which may allay any lingering concerns. If you can place your router within a few metres of your main PC – the one you use for Internet banking and so on – you can connect the two using a network cable. This way, the wireless network is available for grandchildren and their laptops, but your main PC is doing everything through cables. I do this myself; not due to any security fears, but simply because the cabled connection is a tiny bit faster than wireless and a fair bit more reliable.
_________________
