Secure WiFi using MAC filtering in Tp-Link

Security of WiFi is one of the biggest concern nowadays. The intruders try to trace out all the details which might harm you socially as well as economically. If you want to protect your privacy, then at first, you need to protect your WiFi.There are a lot of ways to secure the WiFi connection such as Disabling SSID, WPS and MAC authorization is one of them.MAC authorization acts as an extra security layer for intruders to break into the WiFi.

What is the MAC address and why do  we need it?

 MAC(Media Access Control) is a unique address given to a network device during the time of manufacture of network interface cards. Every device has its own unique MAC address. Besides, it allows the owner of the WiFi network to identify devices connected to the WiFi.

How to enable/disable MAC address authorization in your Tp-Link router?

Here is the step by step procedure to enable the MAC feature in your router. First of all, open your browser. Then in the address bar, type your router IP address. Some common IP addresses that router uses are 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. You can search your router”s manufacturer and find out which IP address they are using. The most common  IP address is 192.168.1.1.

When you have entered the correct IP address and searched it, then a login box will pop up. After this, you ‘ll need to enter the username and password of the router. .For Tplink-Router, the default username and password is “admin” and “admin”.Make sure to check out the brand of your WiFi router and username and password of it.  

When you ‘ve entered the correct details, you will be logged into the homepage of the router. After that, go to Interface Setup>Wireless. This section provides details of Wireless settings such as Access Point, SSID index, WPS mode and the main thing which is MAC address filter. If you want highly protected WiFi, then it’s better to disable SSID and WPS. By disabling SSID, hides your WiFi and makes invisible to the public. Furthermore, by disabling WPS, it makes it difficult to crack the password.

In the wireless MAC Address Filter section, you would see the interface like this. For instance, there are two options:-

1. Allow association-Allows data transmission only to those devices whose MAC you have entered.
2. Deny association-The device whose MAC address is entered can’t get access to the Wi-Fi network

In my point of view, Deny association is the best option. You ‘ll need to identify your device. Therefore, download the app called FING. Using Fing, you can identify every device with the detail information of Device name, Brand Name, IP address, and MAc address..