Securing Router

[Saber]

Anybody have any pointers on securing a Router? - please share.

[Spock]

Well, you could screw it down to a post imbeded in concrete. That would make it fairly secure ...


If, as I think you actually mean, you are referring to electronic security, that will vary in minor detail from one router to another. I set a new username and a fairly long password to keep others out of the ACP (Admin Control Panel). Since I have a wireless router, I also set it to only allow access through a list of allowable MAC addresses. If the modem trying to access the router doesn't have a MAC address on the list it isn't allowed access.

All good routers also offer varying levels of encryption. You should select one that works for your setup as, if you're really paranoid, there is also the possibility that the wireless communication between a modem and the router could be intercepted.

To get more information about your particular router you should visit the OEM website. Some are listed on the WikiPedia page about wireless routers.

[Saber]

Limiting MAC addresses is more trouble than it's worth?

[Spock]

Limiting MAC addresses is more trouble than it's worth?

It all depends upon how serious you are about security. I don't have that many remote devices trying to access the router, so it's fairly simple to use the MAC address as a delimiter.

If you don't want to do that, then set your security to require the user logging in know the exact name of your network and a non-trivial password. The password should be 12 to 20 (or more!) characters long and should contain mixed numbers, lower-case and upper-case letters, and a few acceptable special symbols.

I find the MAC address is much easier to set up and maintain.