Wireless networks are becoming more and more popular nowadays. If a laptop or a PC is equipped with a WI-FI card, the machine can easily detect all the available wireless networks in the point of its location. Most public networks in airports, railway stations, cafes and restaurants are open for every user. As the wireless card gets turned on, a user immediately gets access to the network.
However, if a person or organization is going to develop an own home or office wireless network, certain measures should be taken in order to prevent an unauthorized access to it. Wireless network security key is a very effective solution of this challenge.
What is a Wireless Network Security Key?
Wireless network security key protects a wireless network like a usual key protects a door of the house. Only those who have the key will get access to the network. If the key is absent or lost, the network is closed. It can be said that wireless security key is a password for accessing the wireless network.
The Purpose of a Wireless Network Security Key
All the wireless networks use the atmosphere as a common medium for data transmission. Therefore, every user equipped with a receiving antenna can intercept a signal. However, if the network is protected with a key, the signal won’t be transparent for the intruder.
Consider a simple example. A person uses a home wireless router for getting access to the Internet through the provider, paying for this service monthly. His or her neighbor, who lives in the next apartment, turns on a WI-FI card and gets access to the Internet too. For free. At the neighbor’s cost. Such a situation cannot normally occur if the network is protected with a key. Nobody, except those who have the key, will be able to access the protected network.
Setting a Good Security Key
It is very important to set a complex security key in order to guarantee a high level of protection. There exists software that can determine the security key by means of trying out a number of possible combinations. So, if the key is simple it takes several minutes to steal it. But if your wireless security key is good enough, the process will take much more time because there are millions of possible combinations. It’s also useful to change the key from time to time in order to ensure no one else has it.
Wireless security key is the very first protection of your digital world at home. As you don’t leave your car or house unlocked, don’t leave your computer or local area network unprotected. It is rather easy to set a security key for the intranet. However, if you don’t know how to do it, do not give up. Just follow the user guide of your wireless adapter or router.
Alla Kondrat - Alla Kondrat+ is a Feng Shui topic editor at Suite101.com, as well as a full time freelance writer and translator (Russian and Ukrainian). ...
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