wep is insecure on wireless

[meredith101]

it can easily be hacked (I just hacked my own and found the ID and wep key in 4 seconds). How can I protect from this? What can happen if it gets hacked?

[fo3nix]

WEP is insecure. It's well known.

Use WPA, ideally WPA2. If your router and your computers support this, then you're fine.

You could also only allow certain MAC addresses to connect, but I think this is overkill and would be annoying if friends randomly come round with their laptops.

Just make sure that your router username and password are strong, as your wireless password should be too. The username can be pretty standard (but good to change it), but the password should be a mix of non-alphabet characters (dollar signs, etc.), as well as a mix of uppercase and lowercase, and numbers.

[meredith101]

thanks fo3nix, great answer

[fo3nix]

Oh, and hide your SSID (wireless network name).