Many people are unaware of the security threats that their gadgets, computers, or mobile devices can pose. That is until they realize they need ways to protect their home Wi-Fi network from hackers. One will never dream of keeping the front door open of their home available to any strangers. However, many keep on leaving their Wi-Fi networks unsecured, which opens up to cybersecurity threats.
Hackers find any opportunity and willing to take advantage of any security lapses and initiate a coordinated attack. If hackers have access to your home network, they can steal confidential and financial information. They can infect your devices with viruses and malware, commit cyber-crime from your device or launch a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.
Why Do You Need To Secure Your Wi-Fi Network
Your router is an essential device in your house. It monitors all network traffic, serving as a control point to ensure that nothing harmful comes in and that nothing sensitive goes out. It provides a connection to your home Wi-Fi network with all your phones, tablets, laptops, and more connected to it. If someone else has access to the network, whether a remote hacker or your next-door neighbor, it can be easy to exploit connected devices.
With that in mind, it’s essential to keep your router secure as well as your home network. The good thing is that these measures are not too complicated or time-consuming and can significantly minimize the risk.
Unlike physical networks, Wi-Fi services can be spread outside the walls of your house. If the login password is out in the open, it isn’t easy to monitor who will access your home network. Therefore you need to start making specific improvements and habits that shield you from intruders, snoopers, and internet carpetbaggers.
Ways You Need To Do To Secure Your Wi-Fi Network
Here are some simple but essential tasks to improve the security of your network.
1. Make Your Password Strong
Everyone is concerned that they won’t be able to recall a password and just set it up as a series of numbers, such as 22222222. However, complicated passwords that cannot be remembered are useful for device security and your Wi-Fi network.
You may have to give other family members, close friends, and acquaintances a Wi-Fi password that visits you regularly. However, you can’t restrict who they can send the password to. While there are ways to check for an already setup password; however, not many people know of that utility. Having a complex password makes it difficult to remember, and it’s impossible to guess.
Make it a bit more challenging for those who want to decipher your Wi-Fi password using a random string of characters. The Wi-Fi password must be 12 or 20 characters long, and you can use the reliable password generator to generate one for you.
2. Limit Access To Your Password
While it seems fair to allow your children, parents, and friends to access your Wi-Fi network, you are not obligated to give a password to someone entering your house. For example, a salesman is a total stranger. No matter how decent they look, you don’t know their intentions, and you can’t trust them. Someone on your premises to deliver a service, such as a gardener, or a plumber, has no right to ask for your Wi-Fi password.
3. Use Wireless Network Encryption
Encryption is one of the most efficient ways to encrypt your network data. Encryption operates by scrambling the data or the contents of a message so that hackers cannot decrypt it.
These days, WPA2 is the most secure form of encryption to be used on your home Wi-Fi network. If your device is ten years old or older, it may not be compliant with WPA2. So updates to your home devices would be essential for improved protection and performance.
To check whether your router uses WPA2 encryption, check your network settings, and check your wireless properties. That will allow you to choose the right form of encryption when you enter a wireless network.
4. Use VPN
A VPN is a network that helps you to connect anonymously over an unsecured, unencrypted network. A VPN encrypts the details such that the hacker can’t tell you what you’re doing online or where you’re located. It would also change your IP address, making it seem that you are accessing your device from a place other than your home address or your home network.
5. Use Firewalls
Many Wi-Fi routers might have built-in network firewalls to secure broadband links. It can also deter network attacks from intruders. They will still have the ability to be disabled, though. So it is necessary to verify that your home router’s firewall is switched on to provide another layer of protection to your home security.
6. Use A Guest Network
If your router can transmit the so-called guest network, take advantage of it. As the name suggests, this ensures that you can provide your visitors access to a Wi-Fi connection without needing them to access the rest of your network. These will keep anyone from accessing your connected devices on the leading network like your smart speakers that share files on your desktop, your printers, and more.
7. Change Your Network Name
Your router manufacturer will often install precisely the same administration software on all of its router models. That continuity makes it simpler for hackers to infiltrate your home Wi-Fi router.
A free remote monitoring program lets hackers see all of the nearby Wi-Fi networks. The hacker may not need to know which home the signal is coming from. Moreover, he doesn’t need to get into your house to get into your network. Each network shall be known by a name called the SSID.
8. Keep You Router System Up To Date
The maker of the router can upgrade the firmware on your gateway automatically. However, just as you should make a monthly plan to change your Wi-Fi password, you should update your router system regularly. This alternative should be included in the router console. If this is not the case, make it a routine on the first day of the month to search the router manufacturer’s website for any changes and install them if available.
Final Thoughts
To mitigate this risk, follow acceptable security standards at home. Keep all your computers up to date with the new updates. You should also select which applications, services, and browser extensions you’re downloading. Moreover, secure your devices with lengthy and hard-to-remember passwords that are all distinct from each other. Be sure that your computers are connected with adequate protection software whenever possible.
