When working in a weakly encrypted network, your data can be easily intercepted by malefactors. If you are connecting to your home network and you receive a message that it is weakly encrypted, change to a more secure encryption type.
The most common types of wireless network encryption:
- WEP
- TKIP
- WPA
- WPA2 (AES/CCMP)
The protocols differ in their levels of security. WEP is inferior to the others in terms of security, but is supported by older equipment. WPA2 is the most secure.
Router interfaces differ depending on the vendor, specific model and firmware version. To navigate your router’s settings, see the user guide for your model. It is usually attached to the router, but otherwise you can download it from the vendor’s website.
As an example, we will show the settings from a P-Link TL-WR841N router.
To change your wireless network’s encryption type:
- Enter your router’s IP address in the address bar of your web browser. For example, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. You will be redirected to the authorization page for the router’s settings. If those IP addresses don’t work, try looking on the underside of your router or in the user guide.
- On the authorization page enter your login and password. If you haven’t changed them, you will be able to find them on the underside of your router. Usually, the login is admin and the password is admin.
- On the router’s settings page choose Wireless → Wireless Security.
- In the Version drop-down menu, select WPA2-PSK.
- In the Encryption drop-down menu, select AES.
- Click Save.
