Almost all wireless network security problems stem
from a single cause: wireless signals that extend outside of your home
or office. This is called signal leakage,
and if you can minimize the leakage, you’re well on your way to having a
secure wireless network. Of course, this assumes that a wardriver is
using a standard antenna to look for wireless signals. That may be true
in some cases, but many wardrivers use super-powerful antennas that
offer many times the range of a regular antenna. There is,
unfortunately, nothing you can do to hide your signal from such hackers.
However, it’s still worthwhile to reposition your AP to minimize signal
leakage because this will help thwart those hackers using regular
antennas.
Note
You might think that
your wireless network signals extend at most just a few feet outside of
your home or office. I thought so too, but then one day I was looking at
Windows 7’s list of available wireless networks, and I saw a network
where the service set identifier (SSID) was the house address, and that
house was four houses down from us!
Unfortunately,
minimizing signal leakage isn’t that easy because in most network
setups, there are a couple of constraints on the position of the
wireless AP:
If you’re using the
wireless AP as your network router, you need the device relatively close
to your broadband modem so that you can run ethernet cable from the
modem’s ethernet or LAN port to the router’s Internet or WAN port.
If
you’re using the wireless AP as your network switch, you need the
device relatively close to your computers with ethernet network
interface cards (NICs) so that you can run ethernet cable from the NICs
to the switch’s RJ-45 jacks.
However, even working
within these constraints, in almost all cases, you can position the
wireless AP away from a window. Glass doesn’t obstruct radio frequency
(RF) signals, so they’re a prime source for wireless leakage. If your
wireless AP must reside in a particular room, try to position it as far
away as possible from any windows in that room.
In an ideal world, you
should position the wireless AP close to the center of your house or
building. This will ensure that the bulk of the signal stays in the
building. If your only concern is connecting the router to a broadband
modem, consider asking the phone or cable company to add a new jack to a
central room (assuming the room doesn’t have one already). Then, if
it’s feasible, you could used wired connections for the computers and
devices in that room, and wireless connections for all your other
devices. Of course, if your office (or, less likely, your home) has
Ethernet wiring throughout, it should be easier to find a central
location for the wireless AP.
Tip
If you find a more
central location for your wireless AP, test for signal leakage. Unplug
any wireless-enabled notebook and take it outside for a walk in the
vicinity of your house. View the available wireless networks as you go,
and see whether your network shows up in the list.
Caution
Many
wireless APs come with an option to extend the range of the wireless
signal. Unless you really need the range extended to ensure some distant
device can connect to the AP, you should disable this option.
