Give a name to your Router

When we buy a router, it already has a default name which is generally its model and make. If someone who knows your model or make wants to know your default password & login they easily can guess it and get access to it. So the first move you need to make is, change the router’s name with something unique. Make sure its name is not affiliated with your name or your home’s name and can’t be guessed so easily. You can also make your router invisible to others but then you must remember the exact name. Also change the default password to a strong password.

• Be careful about your wifi’s encryption

Wifi’s encryption matters a lot, Currently, WPA2 is currently the most secure encryption for WiFi routers, and WPA3 is around but if you are still using oldervWPA, maybe you should consider an upgrade. Home routers are a primary target to hackers and this is the main reason why considering strong encryption is a good move to make your smart home secure.

• Keep your wifi account “private” with a strong password

The password you get as your default password will be simple as 12345 or “password”, which are so easy to guess and can be easily cracked so consider changing it to something strong. Use different kinds of letters, numbers, and symbols which can’t be guessed to keep your wifi password strong. One more thing to consider is your wifi must be protected and private, you can share your password with your family or friend whenever you want but keep it safe from the access of people you don’t know or you don’t want. But change the password occasionally.

• Use a strong password for your all devices

While putting a password to anything it is very important to keep it strong and really unique. You can also take the help of a random password generator to generate your password strong. One more thing to be careful about is don’t keep the same password for all devices, keep them separate so that even if you ever make any mistake and a hacker gets a password, they don’t get access to all the devices.  Though we don’t recommend it for organizations, but at home you can write down the strong password and keep them safely, just in case you forget it.

• Keep an eye on the Settings of your device

When you buy a router or any smart device, it has default settings and privacy, so you should consider resetting it. Maybe you don’t know but the default setting will help manufacturers more than it will help you so changing them will help you more.

• Keep your device’s software up to date

Not all devices update automatically. But the updates may have security patches to increase the security of your device.  So keep checking your devices software once in a while & if you find any pending update or upgrade, install it right away. Also, many devices offer the option of auto-update, check-in your device’s setting, and enabling it to make your work easy.

• Disable features that are not of your use.

Many smart devices give you a feature of controlling them from anywhere in the world, but many people only use it to control from home’s wifi connection, so if you are one of them disable the feature of a remote control over internet.  Like this, many smart speakers allow both wifi and bluetooth connectivity, but if you don’t use both, you can turn it off. There are various features in smart devices which are not used by everyone, you can turn them off from the setting and can turn them on whenever you want to use them. Smart devices have AI assistants which work on your voice control so the extra features can be a security issue to you, so disabling the features can help you in increasing the security of your device.

• Use Multi-factor verification

If you are a user of net banking, you may have an idea of multi-factor verification. This is a feature that provides you with another layer of security apart from the password security. With the help of 2 layer authentication, if anyone tries to log in to your device, they have to provide an additional proof of identity such as OTP or a verification code. Like this, you can make your device safe, and if your device doesn’t give you this feature you can add a third-party app for this feature such as Google Authenticator. Many people consider third-party apps even after having inbuilt multi-factor authentication for their peace of mind, so if you don’t get satisfied you can consider this hack too.

• Use NGFW (Next-Generation Firewall)

While home routers already have a basic firewall but many times it isn’t sufficient to keep your device secure because they don’t always have features like IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), VPN, Web filtering, etc. A next-generation Firewall (NGFW) has all these capabilities which make it strong and protect it against cyber-attacks. So if you are serious about strong security at home , invest on a small NGFW.   Only buying the most expensive smart devices doesn’t give you any guarantee of safety. If you want to use them and stay safe, follow the above-written security hacks to keep your home safe and comfortable. About SNS Secure Network Solutions (SNS) is a Cyber Security-focused company and has been helping businesses use the internet safely for the last 21 years. For any cyber security concerns and to protect your business against cyber-attacks, feel free to write us at: [email protected]