A local wireless network can be quite a useful means of connecting your devices and sharing internet, files, printers and other networked resources. It is also an integral part of the internet of things and many smart homes operate over a wireless network. However, it is important to keep your WiFi network secure and safe from all kinds of interceptions, attacks and any other threats which might be lurking in your area. Hackers might be scanning networks to find weak ones in order to break into them and when this happens, a secure network can be quite a useful means of keeping them from interfering with your operations. Learning how to secure your WiFi network is quite crucial as it means that you will be more in charge of your network resources and it will also prevent hackers, malware and other dangerous digital entities from getting in the way and tampering or destroying your files. Additionally, you also get to keep your wireless network from getting interfered with by hackers and this goes a long way to maintain the integrity of your digital resources.
Following are some of the ways in which you can keep your WiFi network secure and safe from hackers. With these tips in mind, you will easily avoid getting hackers in your network as well as evading malware, viruses and other forms of bugs that might cause damage to your data as well as your programs and files. Additionally, it will also be a good way to help others keep their wireless networks safe and secure as you will easily give them the tips they require to prevent their devices and programs from being broken into by hackers and malware.
1. Passwords
One of the major ways to ensure that your WiFi network is kept secure is the use of passwords. These are useful as they will ensure that only the devices that have the correct password will get to access your network. Additionally, having a strong password to secure your WiFi network ensures that you only give access to the people that you wish. The others that do not know about your WiFi passwords will be kept outside and thus unable to access your wireless network and other networked resources such as smart home devices, printers and so on. Whenever you get about setting up passwords for your WiFi network, be sure to set up a good password that is not only long enough, but also one that is complex enough to discourage guessing by hackers. When setting up the password for your WiFi network, ensure that you mix in numbers, small and large letters as well as symbols. This combination will be strong enough to ensure that hackers who use software to make a guess of your password are unable to break into your network and it will also be a sure way of making them take ages trying to crack your passwords. WiFi passwords should be strong enough and long enough to deter attackers and also ones that you will be able to remember.
2. IP Whitelists
In addition to the use of passwords, whitelists are another means of keeping your WiFi network secure. The use of a whitelist ensures that only the devices that are in your safe list are allowed to communicate on the network. The list can be easily accessed and modified through your WiFi router settings page and this is how you can ensure that only the specific devices you allow on your WiFi network will be able to stay connected to your router and communicate with one another. Additionally, the use of a whitelist also ensures that you only use your network resources with the devices that you have budgeted for and this can be quite useful for ensuring that you do not make use of more than your monthly bandwidth allowance.
With the use of a whitelist, you will easily monitor which devices are taking up the most space on your network in terms of resource consumption and also which devices are accessing illegal content. The use of a whitelist can also make it easier to monitor the kind of content that devices on your WiFi network access over the internet. With this in mind, you will be much safer from harmful or explicit content from being accessed on your network.
3. Firewalls
Last but not least, you can use firewalls to keep your network safe and secure from all kinds of network attacks, malware, infections and intrusions. With the use of a powerful firewall, you will effectively filter the traffic going in and out of your network and also prevent harmful content form getting into your network. The use of a firewall on your router will ensure that your gateway to the internet is safe and does not let any viruses get passed to your network. With the use of a good firewall, you will easily filter the traffic in addition to listing harmful IP addresses which might be trying to tamper with your WiFi or gain unauthorized access. When you have taken the steps to install a good firewall on your router or network, be sure to update it regularly as this will ensure that you do not get attacked by hackers who are aware of the security glitches that nonupdated versions of the firewall software possesses.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is very important to keep your WiFi network safe from external attacks and all forms of intrusions. Hackers, viruses and malware are always lurking around your network and as such, you should take measures to prevent them from disrupting your communication and use of network resources. With the measures highlighted in this article, it will be much easier to keep these attackers at arms length in addition to securing your networked resources, files, applications and operating systems. Be sure to implement strong passwords, whitelist the devices you want on your network and finally, make use of a firewall to keep the other devices from getting access to your WiFi network.
