Tips On How To Check If Your Home Network Is Secure

Last updated: January 24, 2022

KEY TAKEAWAYS

With our devices connected to the internet 24/7, it has become essential to understand and implement security measures to protect yourself from hackers. If your network is unsecured, chances are a hacker will find their way in, and your precious data could be breached. 

To make sure your network is secure, the tech and cybersecurity experts have pitched in with some excellent tips;

1. Do The EICAR Test

This is the best way to test the ability of your anti-virus software to do its job. An anti-virus software ensures that your device is protected from any malicious file that comes together with your download. An EICAR is just a harmless file that you can download to your device. If your anti-virus software will recognize it as a virus or a malicious file, then your anti-virus software is still doing its job of protecting you. If it does not, then you might need to upgrade it or choose better software.

Tony Grenier, CEO Instrumental Global

2. Using Online Security Tests

There are internet testing tools that you can use to determine whether or not your home network is secure. For example, these tools offer a router testing tool that could determine whether your settings have been altered to assist DNS hijacking. Because these tools are secure to use, this test is unquestionably credible. You can take their free DNS hijacking test, which takes less than a minute to complete.

Gerrid Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at Joy Organics

3. Check Your Wifi From Another Device

Check your WiFi from another phone or laptop to see if it’s open to everyone. If it’s open to all, it’s not secure because anyone with a WiFi-enabled phone or device can connect to it. To make it secure, go to your admin panel and add a security password. Then choose which type of security you want for your WiFi, for example, WEP, WPA, or WPA2. If you select any of these, information about the security will appear, such as how many characters are allowed in the password, and so on. 

You can enhance protection depending on the sort of WiFi you have. However, if you have home WiFi, you can simply add WEP. This is a safe option with a maximum of 13 characters. Network adapters will not be able to connect to your WiFi in this mode. So there you have it. Your WiFi is safe and secure. Then, open your windows. Secured Network can be seen in the bottom right bar. This indicates that your network is protected.

Tommy Gallagher, Founder at Top Mobile Banks

4. Checking The Security Of Your Home Wifi Network

Being a Tech and Security expert, I suggest regardless of whether you’re concerned about a security breach, testing the security of your wireless network is a good practice. To begin with, one approach to determine whether your network is secure is to connect to it from a new device that has never been connected to it before. If you’re not prompted for a security key while connecting, your Wi-Fi network is unsecured and hence insecure, and anyone could log in. 

The settings page for your router will appear if you type your router’s IP address into your browser’s search bar and then enter your login and password. It’s a good idea to update your router’s password to something more secure because most routers come with relatively basic default passwords. Just keep in mind that this isn’t your Wi-Fi password; rather, it’s the router’s password.

Rameez Usmani, Tech and Security Expert The Code Signing Store 

5. Check the HTTPS Prefix of Websites you Browse

A great way to assess the security of your home internet connection to a website is to look at the prefix of the URL. Encryption certificates are used by secure websites to verify the level of security they employ. This enables you to check the URL to see if the connection is secure.

The HTTPS prefix indicates that all data sent between you and the website is secured using Transport Layer Security (TLS).

Darshan Somashekar, Founder & CEO Solitaired

6. Check Your Connected Devices

The MAC Addresses of devices that are connected to your router will usually be displayed on the control page of your router. You can usually go there by searching 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 into your search engine (I can’t be more exact without knowing your router type). 

It’s possible that you’ll be asked for a password. First, try admin/admin. If it doesn’t work, check any stickers on your router, next- the router’s documentation, and finally, your Internet service provider. 

It should be quite simple to display linked devices once you’re in the administration menu (and usually their names). You could have an issue if you see too many (but remember, your phone can show up too).

Haseeb Awan, CEO EFANI

7. Use Paessler

I recommend using Paessler. You can utilize up to 100 sensors with this home network monitor. It monitors all of your IT infrastructure’s systems, devices, traffic, and applications. The HTTP API and custom sensors can be used to enhance and extend the capabilities of PRTG. PRTG is a powerful and simple-to-use solution

Adam Wood, Co-Founder of RevenueGeeks

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