Does a Nintendo Wii need security software?

Q My son wants to connect his Nintendo Wii to my home network for internet access. Would this make the rest of my network vulnerable?

Since I cannot find a way to load McAfee onto the Wii, McAfee Security Centre reports one of the computers on the network is not protected.

I have a desktop computer plugged into the modem router with a cable and a laptop that uses the wireless network. The wireless network is protected by hiding the network name and using 128-bit Wep. I do not feel brave enough to change to WPA in case I lock myself out.

If the network is vulnerable to attack how can I best protect it? Is there a way to load McAfee onto the Wii?
Ken Price

A We have not seen any reports of security vulnerabilities affecting the Nintendo Wii so we do not think connecting the device to your network will increase the risk of an online attack. Nor is there any need to install security software on it.

From the description of your network, using Wep to protect your network is far more of a risk as it is not very difficult to break into a network protected in this way any more. The Wii has wireless networking built in that supports the newer and safe WPA system.

You shouldn’t have to worry about being locked out of your network because the desktop computer is connected to the router with a network cable. WPA and Wep only affect wireless connections so you can change the settings using the desktop computer even if the laptop cannot connect properly.

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