Rename your router or be hacked

If you are setting up your home network with a new wireless router, be aware that you will need to reset the factory defaults. Otherwise you will be vulnerable to a wireless intruder.

A router, of course, is a little box that lets you share your Internet connection between computers and share files and printers, as well. It also give you and everyone else wireless access to your home network and Internet connection.

One of the first things you should do when you get your new wireless router is to change the SSID or Service Set Identifer. After that, you should change the Administrator user ID and password. And set up wireless security which is a somewhat involved topic and I’ll talk about it in another article at some point.

First things first. The SSID is the name of the wireless network that the little box broadcasts into the ether so wireless laptop owners can find it to connect to it.

Here’s a list of the factory set SSIDs on various brands of routers:

Linksys: linksys
D-Link: default
Netgear: NETGEAR
3Com: comcomcom
Belkin: WLAN or Belkin54g
SMC: WLAN or wireless

If you leave the defaults in place, you are haplessly issuing an invitation to anyone with a laptop and a bit of knowhow to come and poke around in the router’s settings.

If the defaults are not changed, you are saying to outsiders “I don’t know what I am doing. I haven’t set up any security to defend my network. Come on in and mess around”.

So be sure to change your router’s name to something different when you set it up. One tip on this. Use a new SSID that doesn’t give away any info about you (or your family). Don’t use your name or address or any identifying words. The name of your pet, your favorite TV shows or something more obscure is recommended. I use CYBERWALKER2, for example. My brother uses the ominous sounding VIRUSVAULT. But as I write this, at least two of my neighbours have networks called LINKSYS. This suggests that all the factory defaults have not beeen changes so it would be easy to connect and go and turn the router off, lock the owner out or inflict other types of vandalism upon them, if I was so inclined.

To get into your router, open up your web browser on a computer that is connected to the router and type in the router’s internal IP address. You will find it in the router manual, although here are some common addresses used by several manufacturers:

Linksys: 192.168.1.1
D-Link: 192.168.0.1
Netgear: 192.168.0.1
Belkin: 192.168.2.1
SMC: 192.168.2.1

You will need to enter the admin ID and password. Unless you have changed it, here are the common router user ID and password combinations for popular router brands. Note that if it says (blank) it means leave that field empty.

D-Link: admin/(blank)
Netgear: admin/password (Note: on older routers it is 1234)
Linksys: (blank)/admin
Belkin: admin/(blank)
SMC: admin/smcadmin

Once you are inside, you’ll have to navigate to the wireless settings. How to get there varies between brands. Hunt around and you’ll find them. While you are there, be sure to change the router user ID and password, as well.

Once you are done, restart the router!