Wireless Router Configuration Tutorial

Wireless Router Config. - Security - Wireless MAC Address Filtering

Wireless MAC Address filtering is the best and simplest form of security.

Wireless MAC Address Filtering allows the Wireless Router to reference a list of the MAC Addresses "allowed" wireless users, and only allows the "allowed" MAC Address access to the Wireless Network, any computer not on the list is dropped.

Accessing the Wireless
Routers Setup

When ever making changes to a Wireless router, it should be done via Ethernet not Wirelessly. When changes are done Wirelessly, the wireless connection could be cut off after making a change, so Linksys highly recommends configuring the Wireless router via Ethernet.

1.Open a web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape)
2.When the browser opens, go to the "Address" bar and input the IP address of the Wireless Router (The default IP Address is 192.168.1.1).
3.A "User Name" and "Password" prompt will appear, leave the "User Name" field blank and input the Wireless Routers password (The default password of a Linksys Router is admin) into the "Password" field.

Enabling Wireless MAC
Address Filtering
with a WRT54G

Before beginning, make sure that all the wireless computers being used are getting signal and able to get online.
1.After the "Setup" page has loaded, click on to the Wireless tab.
2.When the "Wireless" section loads, click on the Wireless MAC Filter sub-tab.
3.After the "Wireless MAC Filter" area loads, select the change the option for "Wireless MAC Filter" from "Disable" to Enable.
4.The page will refresh, then select the Permit Only option, then click on the Edit MAC Filter List button.
5.When the "MAC Address Filter List" window appears, click on the Wireless Client MAC List button.
6.The "Wireless Active Client MAC List" window should load, check the box(es) below Enable MAC Filter for each PC that is going to have access to the wireless network, then click on the Update Filter List button.
7.fter clicking on the "Update Filter List" button, the "Wireless Active Client MAC List" window will close, and the MAC Addresses should be populated in the "MAC Address Filter List" window, click on the Save Settings button, then on the Continue button, then close the window.
8.When the "Wireless MAC Filter" window appears after closing the previous window, click on the Save Settings button, then click on the Continue button when prompted and Wireless MAC Address Filtering is setup on the Wireless router.

Enabling Wireless MAC
Address Filtering
with a BEFW11S4 v4

Before beginning, make sure that all the wireless computers being used are getting signal and able to get online.
1.After the "Setup" page has loaded, click on to the Wireless tab.
2.When the "Wireless" section loads, click on the Wireless Network Access sub-tab.
3.After the "Wireless Network Access" area loads, select the change the option from "Allow All" to Restrict Access.
4.The page will refresh, then click on the Wireless Client MAC List button.
5.The "Wireless Active Client MAC List" window should load, check the box(es) below Enable MAC Filter for each PC that is going to have access to the wireless network, then click on the Save button.
6.After clicking on the "Save" button, the "Wireless Active Client MAC List" window will close, and the MAC Addresses should be populated in the "Access List" part of the "Wireless Network Access" area, click on the Save Settings button, then on the Continue button when prompted and Wireless MAC Address Filtering is setup on the Wireless router.



Wireless Routers Configuration - Changing SSID & Disabling SSID Broadcast

Changing the SSID and disabling SSID Broadcast is another set of excellent security precautions.

Changing the SSID from it's default, will allow the Wireless Network to be unique, and with the combination of disabling SSID broadcast, then the SSID that is set will be unseen.


Changing the SSID
of an Wireless Router
When the SSID of a Wireless Router is changed, it should be changed to something with both numbers, letters, and no spaces, do not use an address, or a name, or anything that may be allow someone to trace the location. An example would be Stap1e431, this is the word "Staple" with a 1 replacing the letter 'i'. There is also a capital letter and more numbers after the word, this makes it difficult for intruders to guess what the SSID is if the broadcast is disabled.

To change the SSID, make sure that the "Basic Wireless Settings" area of the "Wireless" section is up, and input the new SSID into the "SSID" field, then click on the Save Settings button. A page will appear prompting that the settings were successful, and when that page appears, click on the Continue button and the Wireless Router will have a new SSID.

Disabling SSID Broadcast:
Before disabling the SSID Broadcast, be sure to have each wireless computer configured with the new SSID, after setting each adapter with the new SSID proceed with disabling the SSID broadcast:
1.From the "Basic Wireless Settings" area under the "Wireless" category, change the "Wireless SSID Broadcast" option from "Enable" to Disable.
2.After disabling the "Wireless SSID Broadcast" click on the Apply button. A page will appear prompting that the settings were successful, and when that page appears, click on the Continue button and the Wireless Router will no longer broadcast its SSID.

Please note that with each new computer that is added to the Wireless Network, after disabling SSID Broadcast, may not be able to communicate after being configured for the network. If this happens enable SSID Broadcast, to allow those new computers to connect wirelessly, then disable SSID Broadcast again and the computer should work properly from that point on. If there are non-Linksys adapters on the network, please check with the manufacturers of those network adapters for setup information.