By Webhead Design Limited

12/06/2017 So you think just cos you are using a wireless access point that has some sorta default basic encryption that your safe?
Wrong! Awkward...

Hackers really do want you to believe that you are protected with basic measures like that just so you will remain vulnerable to their attacks!

Seriously, ignorance is bliss! I wish I didn't know about these sorts of things so that I could continue living a pretty happy, carefree existence online!
But now I'm just an overly paranoid mess!

Here are 4 things that wireless hackers hope you won't find out, as knowing about these and how to protect yourself better will prevent them from breaking into your wireless network and computer!



1. WEP encryption is useless for protecting your wireless network. WEP is easily cracked within minutes and only provides users with a false sense of security.
Even the most basic hacker can defeat the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) based security in a matter of seconds! Making it essentially useless as a means of protection.

So many people set their wireless routers up years ago and forget to change their wireless encryption from WEP to the newer and stronger WPA2 security. Seriously go right now and update your router to WPA2, its a fairly simple process and even just changing something as simple as this can change the game completely for your online wireless protection!

If you have trouble with this (like OMG this is just way over my head) Feel free to contact us! Matt is kinda like the router master!


2. Using your wireless router's MAC filter to prevent unauthorized devices from joining your network is ineffective and easily defeated.
Every single piece of IP-based hardware whether it's a computer, printer, game system, mobile phone, etc has a unique hard-coded MAC address in its network interface.

Many routers will allow you to grant or deny permission to access based on a device's MAC address. The wireless router inspects the MAC address of the network device that is requesting access and compare it to your list of granted or denied MAC addresses.

This sounds like a fantastic security mechanism right? well... the problem is that hackers can "spoof" or forge a fake MAC address that matches an approved one.

Basically like being denied access to a nightclub by the big scary bouncer cos "you don't have the right shoes", so you go round the corner back to your car to change your shoes and walk back and get let in. Simple!

All hackers need to do is use a wireless packet capture program to sniff (eavesdrop) on the wireless traffic and see which MAC addresses are traversing the network. They can then set their MAC address to match one of that is allowed and join the network. BOOM! easy access and your network is compromised.


3. Disabling your wireless router's remote administration feature can be a very effective measure to prevent a hacker from taking over your wireless network.
There are a lot of wireless routers that have settings which allow you to administer the router via a wireless connection.

This means that you can access all of your routers security settings and other various features without having to be on a computer that is directly plugged into the router with an ethernet cable. While this might be an amazing and convenient feature for being able to admin the router remotely, it also provides another point of entry for any would be hacker to get to your security settings and change them, to something a bit more hacker friendly.

Many people never change the factory default admin passwords to their wireless routers which makes things even easier for the hacker! Seriously, it's amazing how many people just leave the password as default, and they aren't hard to guess either! most companies will use the SAME default password!


I always recommend turning the "allow admin via wireless" feature off so only someone with a physical connection to the network can attempt to administer the wireless router settings. It is the best way to go about things in my opinion.


4. If you use public hotspots you are an easy target for man-in-the-middle and session hijacking attacks.

I honestly never even knew this was a thing! Scary!
Hackers can use certain tools to perform "man-in-the-middle" attacks where they insert themselves into a wireless conversation between sender and receiver.

Once they have successfully inserted themselves into the line of communications, they can harvest your account passwords, check out your email, read all your texts, etc. They can even use tools such as an SSL strip to obtain passwords for secure websites that you visit like Facebook or Youtube.

It is recommended using a commercial VPN service provider to protect all of your traffic when you are using WIFI networks. They are usually a small fee per month, which is fine as you really can't put a price on this sort of protection!

A secure VPN provides an additional layer of security that is extremely difficult to defeat. You can even connect to a VPN on a smartphone (Android, haha) these days to avoid being in the bull's eye. Unless the hacker is extremely determined they will most likely move on and try an easier target instead.


And that my friends, is 4 secrets wireless hackers don't want you to know and tips on how to prevent them! If you are worried about your online safety please
get in touch with us! Matt has a very vast knowledge of these sorts of things!