The protection of your home Wi-Fi network is as essential to your home security as having a lock on your front door. Consider all of the information and stored data which passes through your home network every day; bank account passwords, medical records, personal information; if you’re not careful these all may be put at risk. Here are four simple steps to protect your Wi-Fi network from hackers.
1] Set up a Unique Password
It is the easiest thing you can do to protect a Wi-Fi network from people who may try to access it. All you need to do is log in to your router, navigate to the router settings and set a new password. To login to your router simply navigate to its IP address in any browser (typically 192.168.1.1). Here’s a good resource for common router addresses and passwords.
2] Change Your Router’s administrator credentials
Now that you’ve logged in to your router you can see how easy it is to take control of a home Wi-Fi network. If the login credentials for accessing your router are still set to the defaults then those should be changed immediately. If the default settings are still enabled that means anyone with access to your Wi-Fi could gain access to the network settings. Securing this gateway is an important but often overlooked step.
3] Disable Wireless Administration
Disabling wireless administration means you can only connect to your router via LAN (local area network) cable. Unless a hacker finds a way to fix a cable onto your router, this step will protect your Wi-Fi network from any kind of wireless hacking. This can be done in your router settings.
4] Turn on MAC Address Filtering
There is a number assigned to your mobile device or computer Wi-Fi adapter commonly known as MAC (Media Access Control). It is possible to determine the MAC address of every device on your network from the internal settings of your router. Turning on MAC Address Filtering will enable you to specify which devices can be connected to the router, preventing any unauthorized device from gaining access.
