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SecBytes 01: Basic WiFi Router Security Enforcement

By Md. Asifuzzaman
Internet connectivity! It's becoming like a basic necessity these days. Outbreak of corona virus compelled us to sit at our home and lock ourselves. Could we do a day without internet? Yes, we could but not in a productive way. Statistics show that a large number of consumers are using WiFi routers to avail internet access from their devices.
Question arises, Is your connection safe? Is there any intruder in your wireless network? How would you know? How can you prevent? Read more below to impose a better yet easy to configure security in your WiFi router!

Type 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 into your browser and log into router admin panel. Default username and password is 'admin'. Please head over to user manual of your router to know the credentials if that doesn't work.

1. Change your password. Make sure it's not something which can be found in dictionary. You may try to mix special characters and uppercase-lowercase letters in your password which makes it quite difficult to crack or guess.

2. Change WPS pin and disable WPS. It's the most common way miscreants try to get into your network using the default WPS pin of your router which is often found on the box/ chasis of the router.
WPS settings on a TP-Link WiFi Router
3. Change your WiFi name. Sometimes different ISP follow a certain pattern in setting up WiFi routers. So by observing WiFi names, passwords can often be cracked in a jiffy. Try to use such names for WiFi, through which it will be difficult to identify you.

4. Change DNS Server. Often we don't care about the DNS server address. Misconfigured DNS servers can slow down your internet connection, also they can be used to steal your data and infiltrate your privacy online.
My recommendation- Open DNS (Primary DNS- 1.1.1.1; Secondary DNS- 1.0.0.1) & Google DNS (Primary DNS- 8.8.8.8; Secondary DNS- 8.8.4.4)
Learn more about DNS here.

5. Check your WiFi version and encryption. Recommendation- WPS2-PSK & AES respectively.
WiFi Security Settings
6. Check DHCP list for unwanted devices.
DHCP List
7. Disable all kind of port forwarding if you are not a pro at this.
8. Change default router admin panel IP address.
LAN IP Address
9. Change username and password of router admin panel.
Router Access Control

These are some of the basics actions you can take to secure your wireless network. Here I have used a TP-Link WR841N Router for demonstration purpose. Please tinker around your router to find these settings.
Some more measures can be taken like MAC Address Filtering, ARP Binding, Local access control of router admin panel etc. I have skipped those parts to keep this guide simple enough for everyone. Although I have plans to write another post for advanced users covering a wide range of topics to setup in consumer grade devices.

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