PC help: Power security

Q I installed two homeplug socket-mounted Ethernet router extenders after reading about them in your magazine and they are great. They do exactly what is promised. I now have simple and easy access in any room in my house.

But I am worried that it might be easy for someone else to access the network and my personal files. Could someone ‘next door’ gain access to the internet - or, worse, my system - by simply plugging one into their socket?
D Morgan

A This is a legitimate concern, which we have voiced to a homeplug manufacturer.

There are two reasons why there is little cause for concern. First, the electricity meter acts as block on the signals that are transmitted across the network, so there is no chance of them leaking out on to the public wiring and your neighbours picking them up.

The homeplug devices we have looked at also have an encryption feature, which works in a similar way to the encryption used by a wireless network. A password is entered into every homeplug adapter, which is used to scramble information before it is transferred across the network. Without the password, the information is useless.

Don’t forget to check the security options on any wireless devices in the house. If an outsider can access the wireless network, they also gain access to the homeplug-connected computers, and the homeplug security is useless.