Wireless Home Networking - Index of

With some access points, you can type the MAC addresses of all the
devices you want to connect to your access point and block connections
from any other MAC addresses.
Again, if you support MAC layer filtering, you make it harder for friends
to log on when visiting. If you have some buddies who like to come over
and mooch off your broadband connection, you need to add their MAC
addresses as well, or else they cannot get on your network. Luckily, you
need to enter their MAC addresses only one time to get them “on the
list,” so to speak — at least until you have to reset the access point
(which shouldn’t be that often).
Neither of these “closed” network approaches is absolutely secure. MAC
addresses can be spoofed (imitated by a device with a different MAC address,
for example), and hidden SSIDs can be seen (with the right tools), but both
are ways to add to your overall security strategy.
Taking the Easy Road
Chapter 9: Securing Your Wireless Home Network
We hope that the preceding section has shown you that enabling security on
your wireless network isn’t all that hard. It’s straightforward, as a matter of
fact. But a percentage of folks are always going to want things to be even
easier (count us in that group!). So the Wi-Fi Alliance and Wi-Fi equipment
manufacturers have developed a new standard (yeah, another standard!)
called Wi-Fi Protected Setup, or WPS.
WPS (in its early days of development WPS was called Simple Config) is an
additional layer of hardware or software or both built into Wi-Fi APs, routers,
and network adapters that makes it easier for users to set up WPA in their
network and easier to add new client devices to the network.
WPS is still pretty new (the Wi-Fi Alliance specification for the system was
approved in early 2007), and not all Wi-Fi equipment on the market supports
the system. But based on what WPS brings to the table, it’s an attractive
system that we suspect will be made available more widely over time.
So what does WPS do? Well, it essentially automates the authentication and
encryption setup process for WPA by using one of two methods:
� A PIN: All WPS certified equipment will have a PIN (personal information
number) located on a sticker. When a WPS certified router or AP detects
a new wireless client on the network, it will prompt the user to enter this
PIN — either through the management software or Web page for the
router, or directly on the router itself using an interface (such as an LCD
screen) located on the router. If the correct PIN is entered, the network
will automatically configure WPA and allow that device to join the network.
That’s all there is to it!
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