10 Tips and Tricks About Wi-Fi Security

Ok, most of us use a Wi-Fi connection in our daily life, so we must know how all of this works. Wi-Fi depends on cryptographic methods to enable security. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) are the security mechanisms that provide the security.

A Quick Look at Wi-Fi Security

WEP was the first cryptographic protocol developed for Wi-Fi to enable privacy and authentication. WEP, however, was not secure after all. To rectify the security issues with WEP, the Wi-Fi Alliance pushed a new cryptographic protocol, WPA. Since then, a common practice of securing a WPA-enabled network with passwords has been discovered to be vulnerable to an offline dictionary attack. Even though WPA is thought to be secure apart from the dictionary attack, it was a quick fix to the problems in WEP. WPA is a subset of a Robust Security Network, which was introduced in an early draft of a security standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), denoted 802.11i.

Wi-Fi networks at the very least consist of two entities that communicate without the use of any wires. They follow a standard set of rules to achieve their communication, and the standard is known as IEEE 802.11. There are two basic modes of operation specified in the standard, and the most commonly used mode is the infrastructure mode.

Ok, let's find out solutions for some problems in Wi-Fi connections in our daily life.

1. Know your security protocols – avoid WEP, use WPA

WEP was the first Wi-Fi security protocol, but it is not secure after all. Always secure your network with WPA instead of WEP.

2. Choose a strong WPA password

Securing a WPA-enabled network with a weak password has been discovered to be vulnerable to an offline dictionary attack, so always pick a long and strong password.

3. Move your phone closer to the router

The main reason for reduced speed in a Wi-Fi connection is that your phone is too far from the wireless router or access point. The solution is to move your phone closer to the router or access point.

4. Find the best spot for the signal

Try moving your phone around to determine the range of the wireless signal and the best place to use your phone.

5. Install an external antenna

If you can't get closer to the router or access point, consider buying and installing an external antenna for your wireless network adapter to improve its reception.

6. Change the wireless channel

If there's interference from other devices, change the router or access point settings to use a different wireless channel. Sometimes one wireless channel works better than others. Check the info that came with your access point or router for instructions about setting the wireless signal channel.

7. Set the channel to automatic

You can also set the channel to be selected automatically if it's set to a fixed channel number.

8. Speed up Wi-Fi on Android phones

For increasing the speed in your Wi-Fi network on Android phones, you must root and disable the complete background tasks.

9. Use Data Sense on Windows Phone

For a Windows Phone, go to Data Sense and set the limit to 1GB, and disable background tasks for data.

10. Use Battery Saver on Windows Phone

You can also go to Battery Saver and disable the battery for background tasks.

What Is an Antenna in a Wi-Fi Connection?

An antenna is used to focus or restrict the signal sent from the wireless network card into a certain pattern or path. Analogous to the transmit case, it will receive signals in the same path. The main purpose is to increase the strength of the receiving or transmitting signal. It may also be used for the purpose of having the radio sealed or located elsewhere than its coverage area. Antenna construction and design is a major field in its own and requires a fairly good understanding of the behavior of radio waves.

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