Date: Tuesday, January 5th, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Danbury Hospital Robilotti Conference Center
DACS is pleased to have John Adams, instructor at Danbury’s Ridley-Lowell Business & Technical Institute, give us an introduction to Wi-Fi security for our in-home and business needs. I had the pleasure of attending his workshop earlier this month, and I think you will find it both practical and enjoyable.
His presentation will start off by explaining how the wireless internet connects to your devices and computer and the wireless hardware involved. Wi-Fi standards have evolved over time to support faster and faster speeds. If you’ve heard of the phrase “dual-band” referring to your Wi-Fi router or device, then John will explain the advantage or disadvantage of the 2.4 GHz band versus the less common 5 GHz band.
The next important topic is how to secure wireless networks. You may know that you can hide the name of your home Wi-Fi network, so that people in the vicinity can’t see it. Does that make it secure so that you don’t need to set a password? (Hint: No, as John will explain.) Even if you set a password, your router may still be vulnerable because it is old enough that it is using an out-of-date security protocol. You’ll learn about the WPA2 protocol that you need to properly secure your Wi-Fi network.
Your wireless router may have a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button that you can press so that another device such as a printer can join the network without the need to enter a password. That can also be a source of a security vulnerability, and John will explain what you need to do to make it secure.
And what about public Wi-Fi networks? Who else is lurking on those networks and where should you be most careful?
John Adams is an instructor at Ridley-Lowell in their Information Technology Program. He has over 25 years of experience with HTML coding, web server/site management, networking, scripting, and hardware troubleshooting and repair. He is a proponent of open-source software, as you can read in this blog article.
John actually began working with computers at the age of 5, after his parents purchased a Tandy 1000EX computer for the family. By age 7 he was writing small programs in Basic and at age 12 he assembled his first computer for use in middle school. He attended Henry Abbott Tech and completed the Manufacturing Technology program in 2001 with a focus on Computerized Numerical Control and recognition for academic performance in Math and Science. John attended Ridley Lowell in the fall of 2013 and graduated in the summer of 2014. He was the first student at the Campus to become COMP TIA(r) A+ Certified prior to graduation. He was asked to return as an instructor for the school shortly after graduating, and within his first year rose to the position of Lead Instructor for the Danbury Campus as well as the Systems and Network Administrator.
DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic.
DACS general meetings are usually held at Danbury Hospital and starting in January will be in the Robilotti Conference Center across the hall from the hospital auditorium. There is plenty of free parking in the guest parking garage adjacent to the auditorium. (See directions and parking information).