Everyone wants to feel secure in their house, right?Â
And, we do all sorts of things, for instance, install security cameras, sensors, alarms, smart locks, and doorbells, to maximize our sense of security.
However, what most people often neglect is the safety of their home Wi-Fi connection. Look around, and you’ll see that most of your gadgets are connected to your Wi-Fi. Essentially, if your Wi-Fi is hacked, none of the gadgets connected to it would be safe. And, not to mention that all your data that moves through the Wi-Fi connection will also be compromised.
This is why it’s important to ensure that our Wi-Fi connections are safe. And here, I’ll share a few tips to help you maximize your home WiFi security.
So, let’s begin!
Connect To a Secured Connection
Bad actors can hack our home Wi-Fi and install malware and viruses, which eventually creep into our devices and steal data. Luckily, there are several reliable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that take extreme security measures to discourage such cyberattacks.
For instance, I’m currently subscribed to one of the high-speed AT&T WiFi Plans. Besides an affordable and high-speed connection, it offers AT&T ActiveArmor, a built-in security feature of the AT&T gateway (router + modem) that can prevent cyberattacks.Â
For instance, it can instantly block several security threats even before they get to the connected devices. Additionally, ActiveArmor also provides complete protection against suspicious online activities.
In short, you must take preventive measures to safeguard your Wi-Fi. That said, it’s equally important that the internet provider itself takes a proactive approach to secure its network.
Set a Strong Username and Password
Do you know that your home Wi-Fi signals can project up to 300 feet from your router? Well, it means that if people outside your home receive signals from your router, they might be able to connect to it.
However, they’d still require the name and password of your Wi-Fi connection. And that’s why it becomes extremely important to set a unique username and password, so that unauthorized people can’t access your network.
Now, ensure that you don’t include any personal or predictable details, such as your pet’s name, birthday, etc., in your username or password. Plus, your password and username should have a combination of upper and lowercase letters, along with alphanumeric characters, to make it stronger and unpredictable.
Lastly, it’s advisable to change your password and username frequently to ensure the security of your home Wi-Fi connection.
Use a VPN Router
These routers have a pre-installed Virtual Private Network (VPN). When you connect your devices to a VPN router, it establishes a secure connection between its server and your devices.
Now, all the data that moves between the router and connected devices first goes through the encrypted server, and then to its destination. And by doing so, all the malicious contents are filtered by the encrypted server, keeping the connected devices secure from cyberattacks.
Other than this, you should also aim for a WPA3 router, which is the latest security protocol. A combination of a VPN router with WPA3 technology is ideal, as it can significantly enhance the security of your home WiFi connection.
Keep Your Router Updated
It’s vital to understand that routers are just like other electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc. And just like these devices, routers also receive frequent software and firmware updates.
These updates are vital and can contain bug fixes, security patches, or new features for your router. Also, most advanced routers can automatically install these updates. However, if your router does not receive updates anymore, then it’s likely old and should be replaced with a new, secure one.
Enable MAC Address Filtering
This is probably the surest way to ensure that no unauthorized device or person connects to your home Wi-Fi connection.Â
Most internet-enabled devices have a Media Access Control (MAC) address, or a unique identifier that can be used to distinguish them from each other. Now, when you add that unique identifier to your router’s MAC filtering, it will only allow the added devices to connect to your home WiFi connection.
This way, you can create a whitelist of authorized devices to safely connect to your Wi-Fi connection.
To conclude, these are some ways to protect your home WiFi. But before I wind up, I’ve got a little advice. Most routers have a built-in firewall, and you should activate it. A firewall can efficiently scan incoming and outgoing data, offering protection against malicious content.
