Your home wireless data connection is your Wi-Fi. Typically, a wireless router is used, which broadcasts the signal over the air. You can connect to the Internet using this signal. However, if your network is not password protected, any nearby device can connect to your Internet by catching the signal over the air.
Perhaps the most important device in your home is your router. It acts as a sentry, monitoring all incoming and outgoing communications to ensure that nothing malicious enters the network and nothing sensitive leaves. All your mobile devices—including phones, tablets, computers, and more—are under its control, including access to your home Wi-Fi network. These devices can be easy to compromise if someone else gains access to the network, whether it’s a remote hacker or your neighbor.
Keeping your router secure is important, but the good news is that these steps won’t take much time or effort and will greatly reduce your risk.
Change Your Router’s Default Passwords
Changing Wi-Fi password frequently is a smart practice. Yes, doing this requires reconnecting all your gadgets, but it also chases away any unwanted guests that might happen. You should be able to see a list of connected devices in your router’s settings panel, although it may be difficult to understand.
It is also advisable to change the password required to access the router’s settings as many people leave the default settings in place, making it possible for someone to access the router’s settings. Have access to customized settings or that you can guess to change your router. As with any password, make it extremely difficult to guess but impossible to forget.
Set Up a Guest Network
A guest network with a unique name and password can be created on most routers. This is a great security measure for two reasons: First, very few people will know your main Wi-Fi network password. Second, if a visitor (unknowingly) brings malware to their phone or tablet, it won’t be able to infect your main network and your devices.
Update Your Firmware
The router’s firmware is vulnerable to hacking and virus infection. While it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk of hacking, you can greatly reduce it by keeping your firmware up-to-date. Security updates are released frequently by developers to fix any bugs and add new features.
The majority of modern routers provide automatic firmware updates. For more reassurance, you can check the website of the company that makes your router for the latest version. If it is more recent than the one already installed on your router, download and install it.
Disable UPNP And WPS
Universal plug-and-play is a different feature to look out for. UPnP was created to simplify web access for gadgets like gaming consoles and smart TVs without requiring you to go through multiple configuration panels, but malware to gain root access to your router’s security settings. It can also be exploited by
Enable UPnP and Remote Access won’t immediately expose you to the worst aspects of the Internet. If you want to be as safe as possible, you should disable them. You won’t have to worry too much if it turns out that there are some programs. And the gadgets on your network depend on them.
Consider turning off Wi-Fi Protected Setup as well. With WPS, you can connect additional devices with a push of a button or a PIN number. Although it has good intentions, it also makes it easier for unauthorized devices to access the system. Because a numeric PIN is easier than an alphanumeric password. Disable it unless you specifically need it.
Check Your Remote Access
Many routers allow remote access from outside your place. But unless you want complete access to your router from another location. You can usually safely disable these features from the router settings panel. And most remote access programs don’t need to work. Another helpful suggestion for increasing your router’s security is to access the admin access interface. Via an Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi.
Routers are usually packaged with in-home broadband plans. To find out if the offer you want comes with the router, contact your provider to learn more.
