In today's plugged-in world, most of us rely on the Internet for nearly everything from shopping and banking to communicating with family members. Whereas increasing reliance on the internet has exposed opportunities for doing just about anything remotely, it also increases the chances that cyber thieves will target your home Wi-Fi network looking for a weak point to pry into. Thus, securing your home network is critical to your own privacy.
The Importance of Router Settings
But for privacy lawyer Alysa Hutnik, the most common mistake isn't what people do but rather what they don't: namely, change the default settings on their Wi-Fi routers. The default settings on every router are public knowledge, and that's how hackers get in. "You wouldn't leave your front door open," she points out-a failure to alter these default settings is a little different from that.
The very first thing in securing your Wi-Fi network is changing the default password to something strong and unique. This would reduce the chances of unauthorised access significantly. You may also want to take a look at all the other configurations you can make on your router to optimise security features.
Encryption: Protecting Your Data
Another thing you should do to secure your home network is to enable encryption. Most of the current routers do offer some form of encryption options, like WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). This encrypts information in such a way that while travelling over your network, it makes hacking even more inconvenient to intercept. If you have not enabled the encryption on your router then it's pretty much the same as leaving personal information lying around open for everyone to grab. A check on your settings and enabling the WPA encryption adds the much-needed layer of defence.
Check Security Settings on All Devices
Securing your home network doesn't stop at the router. Any device that connects to your Wi-Fi should have its privacy and security settings properly enabled as well. Hutnik says that whenever you bring home a new device, a new phone, smart speaker, or laptop, it takes a few minutes to read through the options for privacy and security settings. Many devices have configurations not optimised for security by default. Usually, those configurations can be customised in a minute or two.
Quick Easy-to-Follow Steps to Mitigate Risk
Beyond the configuration of your network and devices, Hutnik calls you to take a few extra precautionary actions regarding your privacy. One such action is sticking tape on your webcam when you are not using it. There is always the prospect of hackers taking control of your camera through malware, so spying on you. As simple as placing a sticker or a Post-it note on your webcam might give you relief over it.
Sure enough, these measures won't protect you from cyber-attacks right and left, but they certainly reduce the risk. The more of our lives we put online, the more important it becomes that we take time to harden our home networks and equipment.
Stay Vigilant and Stay Protected
This will help protect you more from hackers and other online threats: understanding home network vulnerabilities and taking preventive actions about routers, using encryption, and checking your devices' settings. It involves the little things like covering your webcam and thereby trying to ensure that these little habits make you a safer human being on the internet.
Take small steps in securing your home network to avoid many future headaches and ensure that your personal info does not end up in cyber-criminals' pockets.
