Here are some tips for keeping your home wireless networks secure:

1. Use strong passwords

The first thing you should do is set a strong password on your Wi-Fi network: It is recommended to use numbers, upper and lower case letters, signs or symbols, and have an extension of at least 15 characters.

It is also recommended that these letters and numbers do not have any meaning for the network owner such as birthday, place or date of birth, or the name of his wife or children, as this will be a convenience for the network owner. network owners. hackers.

There are programs that create complex passwords and have repositories for them, so you don’t have to remember them: use one of the reputable quality like the famous Norton, Dashlane, Keeper, LastPass, Password-Safe or Avira, among others.

2. Protect your ‘router’, the heart of your network

Two steps are important so you don’t give hackers a clear path to your router, which is the heart of your network. The first is to be very careful to update the router’s firmware to the latest version available, as this is the best way to protect yourself from vulnerabilities that the manufacturer has detected.

The second thing is to change the password to access the default router, since it is available on the Internet. And avoid the classic admin/admin or admin/12345…

3. Use strong encryption

Routers use different wireless encryption standards for data transmission in networks: WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), WPA (WiFi Protected Access), and WPA2. The first is the oldest and is no longer used due to its low security; this has led to the creation of the latter as a solution to the most obvious vulnerabilities, especially in password attacks.

For its part, WPA2 has the highest of the three and is the most recommended. Make sure you use it on your router. There is also WPA3, but not as common as the others at the moment.

4. Consider MAC filtering for added security

We should all use MAC (Media Access Control) filtering and create a list of allowed equipment on our router. This system is like identifying the network cards of the devices, therefore it is personal and non-transferable. This way you can choose which equipment to connect to your service.

To enable this filtering, you need to know the MAC address of each device that will connect to your wireless internet. In Windows system you need to go to ‘Control Panel’, then ‘Network and Sharing’ and finally ‘Active Networks’. There you choose your own network which will take you to a new window where you select ‘Details’. Here you will find the Physical Address or MAC Address.

On Android, simply go to ‘Settings’, then ‘Phone (or about device)’ and ‘Status’. The MAC address will be found in this window, but will only be displayed if the Wi-Fi connection remains active. Knowing this data, you must access the router administration, enter the username and password and go to the ‘MAC Filtering’ section of your router.

All that remains is to add each one manually and then they can be displayed in the Wi-Fi MAC address list. This is for televisions, laptops, cell phones, tablets and any device that uses Wi-Fi. You can also use it to block an unfamiliar MAC address, thus keeping intruders away. And if at some point you don’t want to use the trusted or blocked list, only filtering is disabled.

5. Three tips to finish

– Log in to your router frequently to check which devices are or are connected to your network. There is also software for this monitoring.

– If you’re worried about people coming to your home and asking for your Wi-Fi password, know that many routers offer a ‘guest network’ that can be turned on or off from your ‘mobile phone’.

– If all this seems complicated, don’t hesitate to hire an expert: your network’s security is worth it.