Protect Your Home Network from Cybercriminals

Many employees continue to work from home after the pandemic.  Looks like this will be a trend - either work from home full-time or hybrid situation - which means you need to be concern about your home network.

Cybercriminals are capitalizing on the mass migration of in-office workforce to working at home.

Ways to secure your wireless router:

• Change the name of your router: The default ID – called a service set identifier” (SSID) or “extended service set identifier” (ESSID ) – is assigned by the manufacturer. Change your router to a name that is unique to you and won’t be easily guessed by others.
• Change the preset passphrase on your router: Leaving a default passphrase unchanged makes it much easier for hackers to access your network. You should change it as soon as possible. A strong passphrase is a sentence that is at least 12 characters long. Focus on positive sentences or phrases that you like to think about and are easy to remember (for example, “I love country music.”). On many sites, you can even use spaces!
• Review security options: When choosing your router’s level of security, opt for WPA2, if available, or WPA – these levels are more secure than the WEP option.
• Create a guest passphrase: Some routers allow for guests to use networks via separate guest passphrases. If you have many visitors to your home, it’s a good idea to set up a guest network.
• Use a firewall: Firewalls help keep hackers from using your device to send out your personal information without your permission. While antivirus software scans incoming email and files, a firewall is like a guard, watching for attempts to access your system and blocking communications with sources you don’t permit. Your operating system and/or security software likely comes with a pre-installed firewall, but make sure you turn on these features. ** source: Stay Safe Online

Protect yourself with these STOP. THINK. CONNECT.™:

• Keep security software current: Having the latest security software, web browser and operating system is the best defense against viruses, malware and other online threats.
• Protect all devices that connect to the internet: Along with computers, smartphones, gaming systems and other web-enabled devices also need protection from viruses and malware.
• Plug & scan: USBs and other external devices can be infected by viruses and malware. Use your security software to scan them.
• Protect your $$: When banking and shopping, check to be sure the sites is security enabled. Look for web addresses with “https://,” which means the site takes extra measures to help secure your information. “Http://” is not secure.
• Back it up: Protect your valuable work, music, photos and other digital information by making electronic copies of your important files and storing them safely. **source: Stay Safe Online

Corporate Information Technologies provides small to mid-market organizations with expert I.T. services including compliance assessment, cybersecurity penetration tests, and comprehensive business continuity planning services. Corporate Information Technologies can help organizations, quantify, create, refine, and mitigate the risks presented by business threatening disasters in whatever form they may be disguised. 

Don’t Gamble With Your Security