{"id":71693,"date":"2020-08-26T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.online-tech-tips.com\/?p=71693"},"modified":"2024-04-16T02:04:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T06:04:43","slug":"how-to-disable-ssid-broadcast-on-your-wireless-router","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.online-tech-tips.com\/how-to-disable-ssid-broadcast-on-your-wireless-router\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Disable SSID Broadcast on Your Wireless Router"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re considering the option to disable SSID broadcast on your wireless router, you should understand the real security issues that are involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you disable SSID broadcast, it\u2019s true that the network name will not show up when someone searches for available networks using their standard wireless network adapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, this does not hide the network itself in any way. With the right software or technique, anyone can \u201csee\u201d your network and connect to it as they normally would with the network ID and password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article you\u2019ll learn how SSID broadcasting works, how people can still connect to \u201chidden\u201d networks, and finally how you can disable SSID broadcast on your router. If you only want to see how to disable SSID broadcast, you can scroll down to the last section of this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How a Router SSID Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you first turn a wireless router on, most routers are set up by default to broadcast the name of the wireless network. This is known as the Service Set Identifier, or SSID. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A standard wireless adapter and its associated software will recognize and list all available SSIDs for networks that are within range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When someone disables SSID broadcast on any of those networks, the network will no longer show up in the wireless adapter\u2019s list of available networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if the router is adjusted so that the network shown above called Netgear61-5G no longer broadcasts its SSID, that network will not appear when anyone scans for available networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This only happens because when you disable SSID broadcast, the SSID name changes to NULL, which will not show up in any list of available networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This doesn\u2019t mean the network is inaccessible, it just means the identifier isn\u2019t broadcast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If blocking access to your network is what you really want to do, stop here and read our guide on preventing someone else from using your Wi-Fi network<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How People Can See Networks With Disabled SSID<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 802.11 standard for wireless networks requires the router managing the wireless network to send out \u201cmanagement beacon packets\u201d that provide basic information about the Wi-Fi network. The routers send this out regardless of whether or not they\u2019re transmitting an SSID for the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are free and paid software packages anyone can get that can not only see Wi-Fi networks that have no SSID, but they can also identify the SSID fairly easily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The software can \u201csee\u201d those management packets and identifies available networks that way, rather than by SSID. It can also connect to the network by either attempting an initial connection to obtain SSID, or intercepting packets to and from other clients. When the disabled-SSID network responds to any requests, those responses include the network SSID name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hint<\/strong>: Enabling Wi-Fi encryption can help protect against this kind of unwanted interception of packets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different monitoring applications have different levels of capability. One example of a free software application that lets you see whether there are any nearby \u201chidden\u201d networks is NetSpot<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can see networks that aren\u2019t broadcasting their SSID in the list that comes up when you launch the app. Those are identified with Hidden SSID<\/strong> listed under the SSID field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other free tools like WifiInfoView<\/a> actually take this a step further. Not only can you view hidden networks, but you can connect to them as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you launch WifiInfoView, you\u2019ll see a similar list of networks. You can even right click on the hidden networks and connect to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You still need to know the network password in order to connect, but not having the SSID will not prevent a connection attempt from being made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other software applications that let people see Wi-Fi networks where the SSID is not being broadcast include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n