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In this article we will show you how to Hide your Wireless Network. By default, your Wi-Fi router sends the service set identifier, or network name, of your hotspot to nearby computers and other devices. To make your network more secure, you can set up your router to hide the SSID, making it impossible to find. You should still protect your hotspot with Wired Equivalent Privacy or, better yet, Wi-Fi Protected Access, but it might make your company less of a target for hackers. You’re getting ready to watch your favorite show. You’ve got a bowl of popcorn and a warm blanket.
During normal operation, your router or Wi-Fi modem sends out a signal frame that has useful information about your Wi-Fi network. By default, the SSID is part of the information in the signal frame. This is how strangers can see your network and you can see your neighbors’ networks if they are close enough. This is why it’s so important to protect Wi-Fi. To make your network more secure, you might think about hiding your network name so that people close can’t connect to it. But should we do this? We mentioned below are the steps to Hide your Wireless Network.
How to Hide Your Wi-Fi Network
- Understand SSIDs and how they work.
- Service Set Identifier (SSID) is the name of your wifi network.
- Change the SSID to a more memorable name in your router’s settings.
- Hide the SSID to prevent unauthorized access.
- Obtain your router’s IP address from your ISP or router instructions.
- Enter the IP address into the address bar of your computer.
- Provide the login information found in the router’s manual.
- Access the control panel of the router after logging in.
- Add a login and password for security.
- Change the default username and password to enhance security.
- Navigate to the network control panel.
- Look for the “Hide SSID” or “Broadcast Network Name” option.
- Disable “Broadcast Network Name” or enable “Hide SSID” to hide the network.
- After hiding the SSID, manually enter the network name on each device.
- Note that hiding the SSID doesn’t fully protect against professional hackers.
- Implement additional security measures like MAC address filtering and WPA2 encryption.
- Use MAC address filtering to limit device connections to the network.
- Enable WPA2 encryption in the network control panel.
- Set a shared WPA2 key for network access.
- Save the changes in the control panel to apply the new settings.
- Ensure to click “save” or “apply” before leaving the control panel to avoid reverting to default settings.
Why should you hide your Wireless Network?
When you try to hide your wifi network, it’s best to remember that it’s a lot of work. Even though it makes your network more secure, the extra work may make you wonder why you should hide your wifi network at all. It’s easy to figure out. By hiding your wifi network, you can make sure that no one else can use your internet connection and you can get the speed and data you paid for.
But remember that hiding your network will only keep family and neighbors from using your WiFi device. Professional hackers and people who abuse the Internet will be able to get into a secret network just as easily as they would get into a visible one. Why? You see, each wifi network has a unique name that helps devices find the signal. This is called the SSID broadcast, or the name of your wifi network, if you already knew it.
When you turn on your wireless router, SSID broadcast is turned on immediately. This sends information about your network. This SSID broadcast lets nearby mobile devices know that your network is there. Now, you can easily hide your wifi if you change the settings on your router to stop this SSID from being spread. The only problem is that you will have to add a Mac address to each of your mobile devices to join them. So, if you still want to enable hidden wireless settings even though you have to do it by hand, check out the method below.
The Limitations of Hiding Your Network SSID
All wireless signals work the same way: they come from a source, like your router, and spread out in all directions, like a sphere that keeps getting bigger. There is no way to “aim” a Wi-Fi wave from your router to a specific device. Even if you could do this, you wouldn’t be able to stop the signal once it got to the gadget; it would keep going. Let’s say your wifi network isn’t sending out its SSID, which means that only you know it exists. Then, you join to it using Wi-Fi like you normally would. When you do something, like go to a website, your router sends out a signal with the data from that website, and your computer picks it up as the signal goes by.