Securing the D-Link DIR-628 Wireless Router

I have written a few guides about securing a wireless router. All the guides in the past were for 802.11g routers, so the routers have been around for many years, and are quite common. This guide will concentrate on a newer router, with many more options.

The 802.11n proposed standard is becoming much more commonly supported in various networking devices, and has been for the last few years. This post will provide step-by-step instructions for securing an 802.11n device: the D-Link DIR-628 wireless router.

Securing Your Wireless Router

To secure your D-Link DIR-628 wireless router, use the following steps:

1. Open your Internet browser and enter the following in the address bar: http://192.168.0.1.

Note:

If you have changed the IP address of your wireless router, enter that into the address bar. By default, the address is 192.168.0.1.

2. From the login page, select Admin form the dropdown list. If you have previously specified a password, then enter that into the Password field. If you haven’t, leave the password field blank.
3. Click the Log In button to continue.
4. You will be presented with two options: using the Setup Wizard or using the Manual Configuration. Click the Manual Configuration option.
5. We will set a password for the admin ID. Click the Tools option at the top.
6. From the Administrator Settings page, enter a password in the edit boxes below the Admin Password section. Click the Save Settings button to save the password.
7. Now that the admin password has been changed, we will now enable encryption to secure the wireless router. Click Setup from the top menu.
8. Click the Wireless Settings option on the left side.
9. Beside Security Mode, select WPA-Personal.
10. Next to WPA Mode select one of the following options:
    1. If you have multiple computers, which use both WPA and WPA2, then select Both.
    2. If all computers connected to the router will use WPA2 only, then select WPA2 Only.
    3. If all computers connected to the router will use WPA only, then select WPA Only.
11. Next to the Cypher Type option, select AES.
12. Now we will need to specify a passphrase. This passphrase is used to connect to the router from a computer, so it will need to be complex so it can’t be guessed. The passphrase must be 8-63 characters in length, with more characters meaning better security. You can generate a random one using GRC’s Ultra High Security Password Generator. For best results, use the 63 random printable ASCII characters option. Be sure to save this passphrase somewhere so you don’t lose it, or you will have to enter a new passphrase.
13. Click the Save Settings button to save your settings.
14. For the next few steps, count the number of computers that will connect to the wireless router. Now click Setup at the top.
15. On the left side, click Network Settings.
16. Scroll down to the DHCP Server Settings section. Next to DHCP IP Address Range, enter an address range that will include only the number of devices that will connect to your router. For example, if there will be three devices you will enter 192.169.0.100 to 192.168.0.102. This will cause the router to only assign three IP addresses.

You D-Link DIR-628 wireless router should now be secured. All you need to do is to connect to the router through your operating system, and enter your passphrase.