Of networks, security and being safe…

I spent many years learning the concepts of wireless networking. Not that wi-fi is difficult, nor is networking, rather there were some paths in the beginning, and I learned several of them. There was the concept of packet radio and the concept of what HAM radio operators use (also packet radio but over much longer distances). Its why I always tell my friends have more than one network and more than one wireless router. The 1 to 2 % overall lost bandwidth is much better than everything cramming into the single point of failure causing your network to lose 10-14% of its overall bandwidth every single day. Two Netflix connections in your home result in a much different network profile than one does.

The reality of networks is that they are not built to be set and forget. But I suspect there are many people that have purchased a wi-fi router and have used the default admin password of 12345678 or Password and have not changed it. At the very least make your password the date of the year and day you met your significant other. Less likely something that someone could easily know about you. Security is as much paying attention as anything. Set and forget is a horrible reality that people need to move past. The first thing I recommend is that every 45 or so days you change your router password and that you change the WPA or WEP key that your router uses unless you are using a 24 or longer character string password. Those are harder to remember and much harder to steal.

My father always said keep honest people honest.

When it comes to security in your home, life and beyond just take a few simple steps to keep yourself safe. Remember as I have said many times before there is no central windows computer. No one could sort through the billions of error messages put out by the computers of the world every day and find the five specifics to your computer. It isn’t possible, probable and it just won’t happen. Be safe, have fun and remember the best person to watch your back, is YOU! No one else knows what you do, what you love, and where you go other than you (and maybe your family). But not all of your family is with you all he time, so be careful out there.