Routers today are packed with various features to make it easy to use. If not utilized correctly, these same features can work against you and make it less secure. A few days back UPnP protocol (Universal Plug and Play protocol) which helps facilitate communication between multiple devices on a common network was used by the hackers to hack into over thousands of routers. It is possible that your router is vulnerable to such hackers and many other yet unknown security loopholes.
This problem gets worse with older routers because they do not have any patches to fix the recently discovered vulnerabilities. If you have a router that is older than ten years, you should probably think about purchasing a new one. Meanwhile, follow the steps mentioned below to block intruders from hacking into your home network.
Ensure Firmware is Up to date
Manufacturers build computers in such a way that they update themselves automatically unless overridden manually. Meanwhile, most routers don’t update themselves. They need to be updated manually by installing the latest firmware. This may seem like an annoying chore but this is a crucial task that a user must perform to ensure optimum security. Before installing the latest firmware, you must reset the router to its factory settings.
Strong Password
You can set up your wifi after you are done with updating your firmware. After resetting the router, the default password will be set. This must be changed to a strong password as soon as possible as the hackers can get easy access to the routers that have been reset to the default password.
To change the password go to the web interface of the router and find the wireless section. Here you can name your network to something to easily identify it by. In this section, you can choose the kind of password you set up. Set your password to WPA2 or WPA3. Avoid setting WEP as this is known to be incredibly easy to crack by hackers. You can then enter a strong password and apply it to secure your network. Make sure that you choose a password with letters, numbers, and symbols to make it as secure as it can be. Choose something that no one can guess and change it once every 6 months to make sure it is always secure.
There is an option called hide your network in this section that may look really tempting to engage. This basically hides your network’s name or SSID ( Service Set Identifier). This may look like an option to hide your network from any villains nearby. Contrary to what the name suggests, this may make your network less secure. To begin with, SSIDs are a pain to deal with and in some cases, certain devices don’t support them. There are even some cases when your laptop or mobile device can leak the network name. Also, if something is hidden then hackers may assume that there is something valuable so it may be counterproductive to hide the network as it can make your network a target.
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