WiFi Security Topics

*What is WiFiSecurity?
*How it works
*Pre-qualifications
*FAQ

What is WiFi Security?

WiFi Security is a new OneCare feature that ensures security is enabled on your home wireless network. If security is not enabled, OneCare will prompt you to automatically add security to the network and any additional machines that may be in your home.

The OneCare Team's philosophy for the feature is to protect users who may not know that their home network is insecure, leaving them vulnerable to outside attack and/or unauthorized usage. OneCare makes adding security to the network a breeze by walking the user through an easy to follow wizard. Once the wizard is complete, OneCare will then make it easy to configure any additional machines that are also in the home.

How it works

When OneCare detects that you are connected to an unsecure wireless network (and your computer and network meet all of the pre-qualifications below) you are presented with a White "Action Item" in the main OneCare UI and Monthly Report. When you execute this action item, OneCare communicates directly with the router and turns on WEP128 security. Once security is setup, OneCare allows you to save the network information to a flash drive (or print manual instructions) which will allow you to connect any additional computers in the home to the new secure network.

Pre-qualifications

What does it take to have this feature enabled on your computer? Here's the list!
*Router model and firmware must be supported (See SupportedRouterList for details)
*Router must not have wireless security enabled (i.e. WEP, WPA, etc.)
*Network must be classified as "Home or work" (i.e. not "Public")
*Router must still be set with factory login credentials
*3rd party software which disables the Windows WZC service cannot be installed

FAQ

Q: Why does OneCare use WEP128 encryption instead of other encryption methods (i.e. WPA)?
A: To ensure that OneCare supports the broadest range of routers, we chose to use the encryption method that is the most supported (from legacy to new devices).

Q: Why does OneCare require that the router have the factory default login credentials?
A: Currently, to communicate with the router successfully, we need to have the router set to a "known" set of credentials. For future versions, we are considering adding support for non-factory credentials.

Q: I noticed OneCare changed my wireless network name (SSID) to "OneCare_XXX"--why is this?
A: To ensure networks that are secured by OneCare are unique from other home networks that your computer may connect to, we update the network name with the OneCare moniker. For future versions, we are considering adding additional customization in this area.