WIFI Security

Why You Should Change Your Router’s WIFI name and password

Having a personalised home network, the name is unique to you, and can be seen by anyone in the area who may be scanning for WiFi signals from their mobile device or computer. Avoiding confusion with other routers bearing similar names in your local area. For example, if there are two or three others using “BT” as their network name, you can change yours to a different one. Improve your home network’s security. While this doesn’t increase the network’s protection, changing the SSID name may keep network attackers or hackers away as it indicates the particular router is more carefully managed compared to routers using generic default SSIDs.

Why You Should Change your routers password

The Default Password can be Well-Known (BT: admin, Virgin: changeme). You may have a router with a randomeley generated password but the password it is still printed on the label. It’s recommended to change the password at first login. If you don’t change the password to your router, then anyone with access to it can change its settings and even lock you out. This is a similar idea to a lock on your house. If someone buys your house but never changes out the locks, your keys will always have access to their home. The same is true with your router: if you never change the key or password, anyone with knowledge of the password will be able to access your router. Intruders could change your WIFI password, set up alternate DNS server settings, use your internet connection for illegal purposes, and even introduce viruses and other types of malware into your network, affecting its computers and devices.

Why you should setup a guest WIFI network

Guest WiFi is the safest way to give your visitors access to the internet through your existing network (some routers do not support a guest WIFI network). The guest WIFI will not allow access to your routers webserver. If your guests log on to the primary network they will have access to your router webserver and with a compromised or malware-infected device, the virus can spread to your home devices connected to WiFi.

Why you should update your routers firmware

Firmware updates provide bug fixes and technology improvements that lead to a better overall Network / WIFI experience for you and your family. Another critical advantage of keeping your router firmware up to date is the security protection it provides. We hear about new threats to our online security almost every week. Increasingly, these threats are specifically targeting at home WIFI networks. For example, did you know that if your router is poorly secured it can be taken over remotely by a hacker? What’s worse, hackers can then use it, along with thousands of other hijacked routers, to launch malicious cyberattacks on organizations and their websites and networks. If your firmware is out of date, your router could be hijacked in this way and there’s a good chance you wouldn’t even know it. It’s entirely possible that your router might have been hacked and you don’t even know it. By using a technique called DNS (Domain Name Server) hijacking, hackers can breach the security of your home WIFI and potentially cause you a great deal of harm. They can redirect your traffic to a web­site run by them, causing you to unwittingly give your credit card number or Facebook login credentials to a criminal. You can check if your home network is secure by using a free and web-based online router checker service from F-Secure.

How to Secure your Router

Login to your router (find login information on the label of your router or in your user manual)

Change WIFI username and password (you will have to reconnect all wireless devices), Change admin password, Configure guest network if supported by your router, Update firmware (your router may support automatic updates), Disable remote access (should be disabled by default), UPnP and WPS.