How to Increase Your Home Wireless Network Security

There are chances that your home is already using a wireless network. Wireless routers have become one of the most common home devices that can allow you to connect numerous devices to the internet world. However, there isn’t many who truly understand the necessity and importance of securing the home wireless network. Cybercriminals and hackers will be much busy trying to exploit the most common vulnerabilities in home networks, even when you are reading this. Before these criminals get to you, it’s imperative for you to maximize the wireless network security and below are a few simple ways to do that.

Set up WPA2 Encryption

You might have seen WPA2 while setting the home wireless network. It stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 and is the latest standard in wireless networks. Setting up this protocol ensures proper encryption of your home wireless network traffic. You need to ensure that your router currently makes use of WPA2 protection. If it does not use the WPA2 protection, you can visit the website of the router manufacturer or online resource pages to understand how to activate them.

Set Stronger Password for your Router

This might sound very obvious, but you will be much surprised to know how easy it is for hackers and cybercriminals to crack passwords of routers. If your network router is hacked, it means that all your network traffic data will be open to malicious entities. To avoid this, you can use a crack proof and robust password. You need to ensure to use the maximum characters that the software of the router will allow you to use for the password field. In addition, do not forget to use capital letters, alphanumeric characters, special characters, and symbols. Moreover, make it a rule to change the router password every thirty days.

Whenever a guest requests the password to your router, type in the password for them, rather than giving them the password. Also, never use default login credentials for the router admin. Most of the home wireless users do not change the default password and username for the admin account of their router. Usually, manufacturers make use of a standard set of credentials which will be very easy to get from Google or the dark web. Never expose your home network and change the necessary details when you setup your router for the first time.

Select Wireless Router Position Carefully

There are chances that your router is placed near a window. This can be particularly true if you live in an apartment in a multi-storied building. This can offer many practical advantages; however, you need to take security as the prime concern. You can place the router deep inside your home, if possible, near the center. There are two fold benefits for this. The first is that, you can protect the router from tampering, and the second advantage is that you can have good signal strength in all areas of your home.

Keep Updated About the Router Vulnerabilities

The firmware of your router could be affected by flaws and when cybercriminals find out about these flaws, they can exploit these vulnerabilities to compromise your wireless network. The manufacturers of these routers will also be on the lookout for such glitches and flaws and will correct them with patches and updates. This is why it is important for you to keep yourself updated on the router you use.

Turn off Wireless Network When Not in Use

You need to make it the responsibility of each of your family members to turn the wireless network and devices whenever not in use. It’s even more important to turn off the wireless router and devices when you go on vacation or leave the house. Turning off the device will ensure that the network remains unavailable for the hackers and criminals.

Disable Router Admin Access

Advanced wireless routers that are available these days in the market will allow you to access its settings remotely. This can be convenient for the user, but it also means that hackers will be able to control the router without the need to break into any of the devices that is connected to the wireless network. This means that the convenience comes with a very big risk. As per the experts, the need to access wireless router remotely for the home users is not so frequent. Therefore, it is practical to switch the remote router admin access off.

The number of devices that we bring into our homes is on the rise, and this can make the home wireless network vulnerable. It’s always the responsibility of the user to secure the network and you can follow the above steps to do so.