Should I “Hide” My Wireless Network?
A wireless network can be a great convenience inside your home, but it can also be accessible outside your home. The wireless signal is strong enough to penetrate walls, so you can access it throughout your home, but the signal will also continue beyond your walls and potentially give others the ability to access your wireless network.
In Do I Need to Name My Wireless Network?, it was recommended to change the name of your network to something other than the default name. It is further recommended that you pick something that is unique and possibly a little cryptic. In other words, you might not want to broadcast that the “Smith Family” wireless network is up and running.
An additional layer of security can be achieved by not actually broadcasting the name of your network. How is this possible? Well, most routers have two common settings. The first will read something like “Enable Wireless Radio”, and the second will be similar to “Enable SSID Broadcast”.
With “Enable Wireless Radio”, you can achieve the greatest level of security for your wireless network by turning it off! Surely, that is usually not the objective, but it is still an option.
The “Enable SSID Broadcast” option lets you determine whether or not anybody with a wireless connection will be able to see your network and have the ability to connect to it. If you are already using a wireless connection, please take a minute to “View Wireless Networks” using the icon for your wireless adapter (usually in the lower right corner of your Windows desktop). How many do you see? If you live in a densely populated area or an apartment building, you are likely to see many networks. By not enabling the broadcast of your SSID (your wireless network), you are essentially putting your wireless network in stealth mode. Nobody will see it.
The next logical question may be “If nobody can see it, how can I access it?” Since you know the name of the network and you know the password (we will discuss setting up the password in the next article), you will be able to enter them into your wireless connection and access your wireless network.
This option is not always available. First, some routers consider this an advance option, and a warning not to touch the option may be given. If that is the case, you may want to call technical support for your router and ask them what the ramifications will be of disabling your SSID broadcast. Also, some devices that can connect wirelessly do not have the ability to see hidden networks. This should be less common today, but this can occur when the method by which you secure your network is more advanced than the device can handle.