How to Secure your Home Wi-Fi Network Yourself
Anyone within range of a home WI-FI network can potentially hack into it. If you are a prime target for someone, then they may have even managed to leave a signal booster somewhere. If you spot someone sitting in a car outside with their head bent down, they may not be sleeping. They may be intruding on your life in ways you do want. Would you like to know how to secure your home WI-FI network … if so read on.
How to Secure your Home Wi-Fi Network in 7 Steps
- Routers come with a generic name and password, i.e. one per brand and model. Incredibly, these are in the public domain. Sometimes they do not even have that level of protection. We recommend you change your router password to greater strength. If you forgot it, restore the factory settings, and then change them.
- Routers have settings determining the level of encryption. You can log on the internet and change the level and the user password. The process is too technical to explain in a short post. Visit this link to learn more about this.
- Now disable your guest networks. The risks have become too high to grant trusted friends and colleagues open, password-free access. Your router is a pathway to your own computer once you log on. Think of the fellow in the car across the street.
- Each WI-FI model has a service-set-identifier so users can recognize it. This often identifies the WI-FI brand, making it dead easy to guess the generic logons. Change it to something that identifies with your brand. Change it anyway if someone is abusing the privilege you granted.
- Wireless-protected set-up allows devices to handshake with your WI-FI by automatically sharing your network name and password. This may be manually possible by pushing buttons on both devices. If you have a dedicated coffee-shop network you could take a chance, provided you stayed off it yourself
- Next, upgrade your router’s operating software. Manufacturers upgrade their ‘firmware’ when they learn of security holes. However, upgrades are seldom automatic. Check your router settings at least every 30 days for updates. If you like, you could ask Tomato to replace it with their bespoke code.
- It is always a good idea to give your wi-fi hub physical protection when not at home. Turn it off to reduce hacking time. If this does happen, then at least you are there to take action. Position counts too. Place the router in the middle of the space where your users are. This also reduces signal strength to outside.
This completes our suggestions for how to secure your home WI-FI network itself, without calling in technicians and paying money.
How to Avoid Cross-Infection to Your Device
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We know that. But, how often do we actively consider the probability of a WI-FI user having an infected device. Make sure your own equipment has multiple security layers, and the latest anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
Smaller devices, smartphones, laptops, and tablets are especially at risk because we connect to so many networks. Their risk of infection is thus higher, and this could spread to your business PC. If you do not want to spend more money on anti-virus protection, best keep them away from your network.
Simple Precautions to Secure your Home Wi-Fi Network
We are tempted to bog down in technology when increasing wi-fi security, and overlook the obvious. An old, legacy router may be a simple device unable to handle these things. Heimdal Security believes most insecure sites are in the business economy, society, personal, and blogging spheres. Shopping, news and media only come after them. Things are not always what we expect, are they? Ideally, we should only link to trusted sources…
HOME SECURITY TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS: ASSESSING EVERYTHING FROM THE FRONT DOOR TO THE ROUTER
Many people have a natural inclination to protect their valuables, their homes and their household. Because of this, home security is a rather popular topic of discussion for homeowners everywhere. It can be helpful to know how to make a home seem less attractive to burglars and how to take a more active role in protecting your belongings. There’s no shortage of home security advice, products, and services available to homeowners at the push of a button. However, while it is prudent to assess a home’s security from time to time, there’s no reason to live in fear. Making a home more secure is often much easier than many people think.
In this guide, we address these issues as well as the habits that can be developed to make a home more secure. We’ll also take a look at the growing problem of porch pirates and residential cyber crime. And finally, we’ll take a closer look at the various components to consider that may be offered with a home security system. Read on…
