Everything is wireless. Your smartphone, your laptop, your tablet—it’s all possible and ‘mobile’ thanks to the wireless signal. That signal is encrypted by your wireless router so it can travel through the air unreadable, after which your smartphone, tablet, smart thermostat, or IoT device decrypts it and makes it readable. That’s secure… unless you’re still using WEP encryption. Read on to find out how to tell if you’re still using this weak encryption and what to do about it.
How do you check your Wi-Fi encryption?
- Right-click the Wi-Fi icon and select Network & Sharing Center.
- There you'll see the Wi-Fi network you're using. Click on it.
- Next, click "Wireless Properties" and then the "Security" tab
- If you see WPA or WPA2, you're good to go.
- If you see "WEP" or even "No encryption," you need to take action.
Help! It says "WEP" or "No encryption." What should I do?
Unfortunately, you can’t change the encryption settings from your PC. That’s because they’re controlled by your wireless router. Log in to your router’s admin panel to change the encryption settings there. Your IT manager or IT partner can help you with this. Don’t put this off—as an extra incentive, we suggest you watch a video on YouTube showing how WEP encryption can be cracked in less than 10 minutes.
However, this is a clear sign that, in general, IT security isn’t a top priority at your company—and that poses significant risks today. We recommend that you have an IT security audit conducted; just let us know if you’d like to discuss this.
In addition, you can sign up for free to receive our biweekly security newsletters to help you improve your company’s IT security on your own.
Phew, you have WPA or WPA2! Is your password strong enough?
So you should make sure that your WPA PSK (Pre-Shared Key) has a complex password with ‘random’ characters, such as “8j(h^4&R3?zN^2@L”. By the way, did you know that a WPA2/PSK password can be up to 63 characters long? So make your password ‘strong’—that is, as long as possible and containing a mix of characters from different groups (upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters like ‘^’).
Your employees only need to enter this password once, and their laptop, smartphone, or other device will then remember it.
What about guests or visitors?
If you frequently have temporary visitors whom you’d like to provide Wi-Fi access to, we recommend setting up a separate Wi-Fi network for them that’s easier to access and, moreover, completely separate from all your trade secrets.
