Make Sure Your Wi-Fi Is Secure

You use your Wi-Fi everyday to work, socialize, and relax. While you might think you and those you trust are the only ones with permission to access your Wi-Fi, it isn’t a fortress. You need to think ahead if you want your Wi-Fi to be really protected.

First up, consider your Wi-Fi password. Your router likely came with a default password you never changed, which itself is likely a string of numbers or letters you can’t remember. Not only is this an inconvenient password type, it might not be secure. The most secure password types have the greatest amount of entropy, meaning they are very difficult for a human (and, more importantly, a computer) to guess. These passwords don’t need to be incomprehensible, either: You can use two or three uncommon but full words squished together, perhaps with an underscore or a swapped letter-for-number here and there, as your password, making it easier to remember while remaining secure.

You’ll also want to check to make sure your router is using the best security settings possible. To do so, you’ll need to log into your router via your browser. It shouldn’t be such a complicated process in 2022, but it is a bit technical. Luckily, with a good walkthrough, like this one, you should be up and running in no time. Once you log into your router, check to see if you’re using WPA2-PSK or WPA3 security standards. If your router is using WEP, however, make sure to change to one of the other security types. If you can’t, you might not want to use that router any longer.

Finally, you’ll want to upgrade your router’s firmware. While some routers automatically update, yours might not. Think about how long you’ve had your router, and how long it might have gone on for without a firmware update. Use this router login page to find the update section and see if there’s an available update for your device.

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