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Look in the advanced settings of your router and confirm that any remote access tools are turned off. Since the router not only functions as the network management brain of your home network but also the firewall, once a malicious user has gained remote control, they can open the firewall and gain complete access to your home network.Īgain, like better Wi-Fi security, manufacturers are finally taking default security seriously, so you might be pleasantly surprised to find that the remote access/management features are disabled. For 99.9% of home users, however, there’s very little reason they would need to remotely administer their router from afar, and leaving remote access on simply opens up a point of vulnerability that hackers can take advantage of. If you need remote access for some reason, it’s a pretty handy feature. We also recommend you check out our dedicated article about securing guest networks and how they may not be as secure as you think. If you choose to enable it, the same rules apply for selecting good encryption and a strong password. While we’re on the topic of securing your Wi-Fi: if you have a newer router, chances are you have a guest network. Instead of “thedog20”, use “My Dog Is Twenty Years Old”. Passphrases are easier to remember and are harder to crack. Forget simple passwords like thedog20, blackcat, or any of the trivial passwords that Wi-Fi standards used to restrict us to. RELATED: Warning: “Guest Mode” on Many Wi-Fi Routers Isn’t SecureĪs far as passwords are concerned, when you’re using strong encryption like WPA2 that supports up to 63 characters, it’s far better to use a passphrase than a password. I NEED TO SET UP A NEW PASSWORD CRACKWe recommend using WPA2. You can read about Wi-Fi encryption and why it matters here, but the short of it is that anything below WPA2 is easier to crack. WEP is so trivial to crack a child with the right (and widely available) tool could do it. Select WPA2 (or, to future proof this advice, whatever better encryption comes along). When you go to change your Wi-Fi network’s password, you’ll typically have options available like WEP, WPA, and WPA2. I NEED TO SET UP A NEW PASSWORD PASSWORDNot every manufacturer has individualized setups for each router they ship, however, which means it’s your responsibility to make sure your router has properly configured Wi-Fi with a secure password and the best encryption. RELATED: The Difference Between WEP, WPA, and WPA2 Wi-Fi Passwords Now, they’re finally starting to ship routers with the highest level of Wi-Fi encryption enabled and a randomized password set (so even if new users don’t know what they’re doing or fail to look up a list like this one, they’re still protected). Set a Secure Wi-Fi Password with Quality Encryptionįor years, router manufacturers shipped routers with poorly configured Wi-Fi and/or default passwords enabled. Something easy to remember but unspecific to you is ideal-like “Cookie Monster” or “Spaceman”. ![]() This means no SSIDs like “Apartment5a” or “321LincolnSt”. For example, it might be called “Linksys”, which lets outsiders know the manufacturer of your router-making it easier for them to fetch the default login, or check for vulnerabilities on that model.Ĭhange the SSID to something different from the default, but without any identifying information in it. Your Wi-Fi’s network name, or SSID, can reveal a lot about the router. ![]() So, if you don’t want it to be stupid easy for passers-by to break into your network, you should change your administrator password…before someone changes it for you. Usually they’re something ridiculously simple, like “admin/admin”. I NEED TO SET UP A NEW PASSWORD DOWNLOADYou can download entire lists of known pairs, and there’s even the appropriately named web site RouterPasswords where you can look up just about any make, model, and default login. These defaults aren’t even well kept secrets-a simple Google search will tell you the username and password for just about any router out there. Just about every router ships with a default username and password you use to manage the router. RELATED: Don't Have a False Sense of Security: 5 Insecure Ways to Secure Your Wi-Fi It also means you have access to the most up-to-date features of the router. Second, although not as common as problems on consumer operating systems like Windows, there are exploits and vulnerabilities that crop up in router firmware, so it’s always good to have the latest (and most secure) firmware available. I NEED TO SET UP A NEW PASSWORD UPDATEFirst, you don’t know how long your router was sitting on the shelf, and a new update may have been (and most likely was) released. Although firmware updates are generally infrequent, and router firmware is designed to be stable, there are two reasons to check for updates immediately after getting a new router. ![]()
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