Hey everyone! This month I'll be covering WIFI, anything and everything you need to know about how to stay secure wirelessly.
One of the things you must add to make the home functional is internet access. But what are the guidelines for securing that setup? How can one know if they’re secure? Here are the tips and tricks to making sure no one is taking up the new line of bandwidth in your new residence.
Change the Default Router login:
Sure, there are those that say, “Well I change the default Wi-Fi password and SSID, so no one will get in, I’m perfectly secure with just that right?”
Sure, but would you only lock your front door if you knew that the fence was protecting the back door?
We need to think of everything when it comes to access to the internet, physically and digitally and the second or maybe even the first is changing the default login to the router, even if you trust everyone on your network.
Types of Wi-fi:
When you are inside your router’s management portal, make sure it’s not on anything like WPA or WEP, or ‘No-Security’, which means there’s no authentication when connecting to your Wi-Fi network. Anything with WPA2 or above is perfectly suitable for Home Networks.
Maybe you don’t like it broadcasting?
So, for devices to find the Wi-Fi in your home, or hackers to find SSIDs to brute force, you need to enable Broadcasting. But you can disable SSID broadcasting as a safety measure, but when someone asks for the Wi-Fi password, you’ll also be handing them the SSID of the Wi-Fi of your home.
Again, this is only an added feature, it really does nothing for experienced hackers to find SSIDS, it’s still possible for hackers to find SSIDS to break but I’ll explain this in another article.
Add a Firewall to the mix!
Firewalls are amazing pieces of hardware and technology, not popping up until the late 1980s, firewalls became normal for companies using technology.
Above is an article linked to a guide for home firewalls.
If you want advice for business, firewalls give us a shout and we’ll be happy to provide some options.
Do you share Files across your network?
Gaming routers are awesome, but what if file sharing is part of the package and you didn’t know it?
Researcher Kyle Lovett bought a new Asus Router in Ep. 5 of Darknet Diaries, listen to the episode for more information. Kyle bought the Asus Router had all these default programs enabled on the router like FTP, a program used to remote into a server/desktop and download files. He decided to see if this was the same case for others, he knew who bought the router. Kyle found that these were defaulted by Asus, saying that it wasn’t a security risk, but that soon changed, and Asus soon made these protocols and services DISABLED by default.
The main thing to look for is if your router has these capabilities and if they’re on, these programs aren’t special to Asus but check in the router management portal if they’re on.
Update!
Always, always check for updates, almost every one to two weeks is awesome but if you can’t remember or think it’s a hassle at least check once a month for updates to your router.
I’ve highlighted what I believe to be the first steps in taking control of your Home Wi-Fi, the resources are below and can be studied further for better protection.
Resources: