Wireless security

You can reduce the risk of being wrongly accused of illegal filesharing by securing your wireless network. We give you some advice below on what you can do.

Am I at risk of being hacked?

On a typical UK street TalkTalk found that 35% of WiFi points were either completely open or had WEP security. WEP security can now be breached by anyone who follows simple instructions available on YouTube. We demonstrated this as we easily hacked into two WEP-secured networks on this street (with permission of course). All we wanted to do was expose how easy this was to do, but imagine if someone else didn’t have such good intentions. WPA security is far more secure and indeed more widely used, but only 1% of people on the surveyed street were using the strongest WPA2 security. Whilst WEP is better than no security, it’s still an easy target for hackers.

What’s the difference between WPA and WEP?

Open: no security whatsoever as anyone with a laptop and a wireless card could connect to your WiFi.
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy): can be easily hacked; software and guides are readily available on the internet.
WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access): very secure and is considerably more difficult to hack than WEP.
WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2): not available on all routers, but is the most secure connection currently available.

What could happen if I am hacked?

You could be disconnected from your broadband service provider, even if you have done nothing wrong. Once hackers are connected to your wireless network they can use it as a mask to download whatever they please, including illegal music. With the proposed laws it would be you who is branded an ‘internet pirate’ and you who is disconnected from your broadband service indefinitely.

What can I do to stay secure?

First of all you need to find out which security you have – you can either ask the person who deals with your network, or access this yourself through the router settings (by following the instructions that came with your router). If it is ‘Open’ or ‘WEP’ you should change it to WPA security, or even better WPA2. Adopting WPA will mean it will take hackers weeks instead of minutes to connect to your network, enough to deter hackers who intend to use your connection for illegal filesharing. You can do this by following many of the online guides, or following the instructions that came with your router. Not all routers and computers support WPA, so you might need to upgrade your wireless devices. www.practicallynetworked.com suggests other ways to secure your wireless network.