Is Your Home Wifi Secure Enough For Online Banking ?

In present,we use Mobile phones , ipod , ipad , Gaming consoles  to access the internet other than desktops and laptops. The wired connections are decreasing day by day because every one wants portablility instead of traditional cabling work. When you  try to connect to your wifi you can see the access point ID of your connection along with ID's of other people in your neighbourhood. Now the question is , can they see your ID too ? An unsecured connection gives neighbours and strangers, access to your internet service. If they are smart enough with computers and networks they can scan your hard disk and steal your banking details. By doing  simple changes into your router you can protect yourself from hacking .

What is encryption and how it can help you to secure your connection ?

Encryption is a way to enhance the security of a message or file by scrambling the contents so that it can be read only by someone who has the right encryption key to unscramble it. The process of scrambling the data is called Encryption and the reverse process is called Decryption. Encrypting your wireless network block the hackers to peep into your computer and also helps you to browse the internet in secure way. Most wireless routers have encryption turned off by default , so you need to turn it on manually. There are three type of wireless encryption standards which we can use to secure our connection.

WEP : - Wired Equivalent Privacy (or Wireless Encryption Protocol) is an older and weakest encryption method mostly available with eariler routers. If you are using an old version router you can go with WEP but it no longer recommended. WEP security is relatively easy to crack.

WPA : - Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an improvement in the authentication and encryption features of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). WPA also provide built in authentication and stronger encryption than WEP. So you can also go with WPA , if WPA2 is not available .

WPA2/PSK : -  Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2 is the complete and strongest encryption scheme for wireless networks. For best wireless security choose WPA2-Personal with TKIP encryption. WPA-PSK is a powerful form of WPA designed for use on home networks .

How to enable an Encryption on a Wireless Router ? 

Type "192.168.1.1" in the Web browser's address bar and press "Enter" to access the router's setup page.Usually you  use "192.168.1.1"  to access the router's setup page and if it is not working you can  google it  to find the manuals for your routers . 

Then it will ask for the router's username and password. The default username for most wireless routers is "admin," and the default password is "password," or you can try "admin". If both of them are not working please contact your ISP for details or try to find it on RouterPasswords. For better security reasons , I'll recommend you to change the default password of your router .

After entering the password click on Login , look for the Wireless Settings and select Security Settings .

Now change security mode to WPA-Personal & WPA-Mode to Auto / WPA2. The WPA-Passphrase is the password which is required to connect to your Wifi access point .

So if you want to change the password of your Wifi ,you have to change the Wpa-passphrase. Click on Apply/Save and you are done , i will personally recommend you to change your password on quarterly basis and turn off the router when you are not using. It is better for the health of your router and it also keeps you secure from hackers .