Your Home Internet Router – Are You Inviting Hackers to the Party?

Your home Internet connection router or modem is the front line of defense against Internet intruders.

Think of it as soldiers “manning the wall”, armed to the teeth, ready to repel intruders.

At least, hopefully repelling intruders.

But what if, instead of that scenario, your guards had turned into Benedict Arnold and were working for the other side?

Probably not intentionally, but in fact.

So what should you do to keep your Internet “guard” on your side rather than on the other side?

Here is a list of recommendations.  At least part 1.

Many times, the Internet gateway, if it is provided by your ISP (internet service provider), is not a great piece of hardware.  Sometimes it is okay, but often not so much.

If you have the option to provide your own device, that is likely a much more secure solution. 

In either case, change the password that you were given for the device.  Many times, for ISP provided devices, they have a back door, so changing the password doesn’t help much, but it might.

If your ISP has a device on your network that they can get into, likely they can see most of your traffic, both local and on the Internet.  Even if it is encrypted, although that is harder.

Next make sure the firmware (software) in the device is up to date.  Typically, if you can log into the device, you can find a menu option to check for software updates.  A couple of years ago I was working on a device for a customer and discovered the firmware was 7 years old.  And there were no updates.  This qualifies as one of those “not so much” devices.  It just means that the manufacturer doesn’t care about security because they are not liable.

If you do go out and buy your own modem or router, check the vendor’s history on software updates.  If  in general, they are pushing out regular updates, likely they will do so for the device that you buy.  Also check out reviews online.

Sometimes Internet providers don’t isolate you from the Internet at all – they don’t care either;  they are not responsible.  Probably somewhere in the fine print it warns you.  In a place you don’t read.

You can find out if your computer is on the Internet directly, but that is beyond the scope of this blog post – you may need to ask one of your geeky friends to do that for you. 

A better way to protect yourself is to add your own hardware firewall between your ISP’s device and all of your computers.  That way you are in control.  If possible, select a firewall that updates it’s software automatically.  We can provide recommendations.

Assuming that you don’t live alone – and even if you do – there are likely many devices on your network at home.  Could be as simple as your cable set top box or a Ring video doorbell.  Or it could be your kids’ computers.  Or any number of other devices.  Those devices can also represent a security risk.  Make sure they are all patched too.  Sometimes that is hard.  You really have to do it anyway.

If you can isolate your work device from the rest of those other devices, that is really best.  It may take some IT support to do it, but if security is important, it is worth it.  It could be as simple as buying a dedicated WiFi access point for your work computer or plugging it into a different port on the firewall  – it will likely take some expertise to figure it out, but only one time.

These are some basics;  there are a lot more, but start there.  Another day, more on the subject.

Of course, you can always contact us for assistance.

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