How dependent are you on your home WiFi? If you’re like the majority of people, you use it for online banking, credit card payments, hotel reservations, chatting with friends, and movie watching.
This is advantageous. Your home Wi-Fi network, however, can become a hangout for scammers, hackers, and other cyber criminals if it is not secured. Nearly all of the gadgets that connect to your home Wi-Fi network could be compromised by a minor security flaw. Your credit card gateways or online bank accounts may be vulnerable to scammers and hackers. Your doctor’s emails to you may be monitored by them. Even worse, they might inundate your gadgets with spyware and malware.
Here Are A Few Quick, Yet Crucial, Things You Can Do to Increase Network Security
Below are some of the ways that can help you increase network security:
1. Create A Challenging Router Password
As a result of everyone’s concern that they won’t be able to remember a password, they simply create them as a string of numbers, such as 11111111. For system security, however, it is best to use complicated passwords that are impossible to remember.
You will need to share the WiFi password with other family members, close friends, and relatives that frequently visit. You have no control over who they might disclose that password to, though. Although it is possible to check a password that has already been set up in the operating system of any computer, few people are aware of that feature. Making a complex password makes it impossible to guess and makes communication more difficult.
2. Change The Default Passwords On Your Router
Some routers are shipped with pre-configured passwords. However, these passwords are easily discoverable by hackers, thus it’s crucial to change them to something more difficult. There are two passwords on your router that you’ll need to reset. The Wi-Fi network password is used to sign in to the network using your devices. A distinctive and secure Wi-Fi network password keeps outsiders off your network.
The router admin password is required to access the device’s administration section. You can alter settings there, for example (including the Wi-Fi network password). If a hacker gained access to your router’s administrative panel, they may modify the settings (including your Wi-Fi password). Any other security measures you may be taking will be nullified by that.
3. Update Your Router Frequently
Visit the manufacturer’s website to determine if a newer version of the software is accessible for download before configuring a new router or updating your current one. Register your router with the manufacturer and subscribe to updates to ensure you are informed when the newest version is released. If your Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as Verizon or Comcast, provided your router, ask them if they send out automatic updates.
4. WPS, UPNP, And “Remote Management” Functionalities Should All Be Disabled
Some routers contain functions that can be useful but reduce the security of your network. For instance, you can modify settings online if you have remote control access to your router’s controls. Instead of typing the network password, WPS enables you to connect a device to the internet by pressing a button on the router. Last but not least, UPnP enables network discovery for your devices. These capabilities might make it simpler to let visitors use your Wi-Fi or add devices to your network, for example, but they could also make your network less secure.
5. Create A Guest Network
A guest network with a unique name and password can frequently be created on routers. Two factors make it a wise security move:
Fewer individuals will know the password to your main Wi-Fi network if you have a secondary login, and if a visitor (unknowingly) has malware on their phone or tablet, it won’t get onto your main network and your devices.
6. Modify The Router’s Admin Password
Any device connected to the network can access the router’s console. For each piece of equipment they sell, most manufacturers configure the administrator account on routers with the same username and password. Being able to configure the network is what sets this apart from merely connecting to the network. Anyone connecting to the router can attempt to guess the login information or Google it with a little knowledge. You become open to hackers or youthful overachievers as a result of this.
You may be able to locate the default username and password in the router’s instruction manual or in the support sections of the website of the wifi manufacturer. It might even be visible on the router’s login screen. Try sys/admin, system/admin, admin/admin, user/user, system/password, and admin/password if you can’t locate the username and password anyplace else. If none of these work, check this list of default router administrator passwords to see if your router is listed.
7. Upgrading Wifi Encryption
Weak wifi encryption can be broken using a variety of readily accessible hacker tools, giving an attacker the ability to intercept, view, and alter your online activity. To encrypt communications so that only the end user’s device and the wifi router can access the contents of a transmission, three different types of wifi protection systems are frequently employed. These are WiFi Protected Access (WPA), Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), and WiFi Protected Access 2. (WPA 2). WPA2 is the one you should choose from three. In fact, you require WPA2 AES, a more secure variation of this protocol. This encrypts transmissions using the AES cypher, which is impossible to decrypt.
In the router console, the wifi encryption can be changed. Frequently, a second pick-list contains the AES encryption choice. You can therefore pick AES in the second field after selecting WPA2 in the first.
Conclusion
To protect your data from thieves, learning how to secure your home WiFi is crucial. Given how many of our devices are connected to our network, it’s imperative that you take all necessary precautions to thwart criminal activity.
Try at least a few of the suggestions we provided above if you can’t practically implement them all to make modest, easy modifications. To block more casual hackers who might give up at the first sight of resistance, for instance, you can simply move your router to the center of your house and update the firmware on your router. Also known about the anonymous-Instagram-story-viewer.