Setting up Your Hardware Firewall - Security Settings
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You should change the default password that is used to access the configuration utility to something unique of your own choice as a basic precautionary measure as all routers made by the same company are shipped with the same username and password. This is usually done using a simple ‘change password’ link that opens a page allowing you to enter the old and new passwords.
Next you should set a password for your network to prevent unauthorized access and abuse from people that live in close proximity or war-drivers. This is a password that devices connecting to your network will authenticate with (a PSK or pre-shared key) and will need to be set in the properties of the configuration utilities installed on these additional devices. You can usually setup a custom access list as well that explicitly states the IP address or MAC (media access control) address of each physical machine, although this shouldn’t be relied upon alone. These settings will reside in the wireless settings section.
You should also consider your security policy. Are you a parent that wants to protect their children by restricting the sites that they are able to access or the time of day that the Internet can be accessed? Are you a single person that lives alone and simply has more computers than people in the house?
Even something as simple as accessing a web page can result in a computer becoming infected with a virus; password and crack sites are prime examples of this. Wouldn’t it be a shame if your kids unwittingly compromised your system by accessing a site such as this?
You should be able to define specific keywords that URLs are filtered for and can be blocked against; entering ‘crack’ for example as a keyword to be blocked will prevent unnecessary exposure to a whole host of virus and trojan ridden sites.
Also, spoof emails that purport to come from sites such as eBay often contain links that that take the email recipient to a fake web page that looks in some cases identical to the genuine site and collects usernames and passwords. In my experience, these links often point to foreign (to me) websites with URLs that end in country codes that I would never normally access; .de for example. It could be catastrophic if your unsuspecting partner innocently followed one of these links.
While these kinds of threat can’t be eliminated entirely, they can be minimized; I speak English, so almost every web site I have ever accessed has ended with .com or .co.uk so other internet addresses can easily be blocked to prevent unplanned access.
Next: Blocking Sites >>
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