Most professional service industry employees are now working from home.

Whilst working from home is convenient, it isn’t always the most secure place for us to be connecting back into our corporate resources (Although it beats using free airport Wi-Fi!)

The reason for this is that most consumer grade network equipment like Wi-Fi routers are designed with convenience and simplicity in mind, not corporate network security.

One of the least secure places in a home network is your Wi-Fi. For many users, they simply retain the pre-configured settings from when their router was supplied by the ISP (Internet Service Provider), or configure the bare minimum settings needed using a store-bought device, then just leave it. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Right?

The problem with leaving the default settings is that it makes it relatively easy for a cyber criminal to access your network, then potentially your corporate network! Yikes.

Here are some easy things you can do to better protect your home network from potential Wi-Fi and router hacks;

1. Use stronger Wi-Fi encryption like WPA2
2. Use a complex Wi-Fi password
3. Configure a guest Wi-Fi network
4. Change the default password of your router
5. Keep the router firmware up to date
6. Disable remote access (Internet facing)
7. Disable Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)
8. Disable Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)
9. Change the network name (SSID) for your wireless
10. Set your SSID to not broadcast (For more advanced users)

All these things can be done through the remote web interface of your router. To get to the remote web interface of your router, you will need to browse to the IP address of the router through a web browser and log in.

Whilst these changes alone won’t provide entirely robust home network security, it is a great step in the right direction. We would still recommend using a VPN and multi-factor authentication where possible, and ensuring the computer you connect to your workplace from has the “Network Profile” set to Public to enable the device firewall and protect you from other devices on home network (Like your kids computers, for example!)

For assistance setting up robust home network security, the team at ServiceScaler can help. Get in touch with us today.

Did you find this interesting? Read more posts here.

Contact us here - or call us on (02) 9146 6339