School is out, summer is approaching and many folks are tediously making their summer travel plans. Most people focus on door locks, alarm systems or cameras when it comes to protecting their homes. These days, just as much of your life happens online as it does inside your house.
If your home Wi-Fi network isn’t properly secured, you could leave yourself open to hackers, data theft and other digital threats without realizing it. If your home network is breached, it can be accessed, which means controlling connected devices, installing malicious software or spying on your sensitive data, like your credit card numbers and live camera feeds.
So what do you do? You make your home Wi-Fi more secure. A secure home network will help reduce the risk of getting hacked and having someone access your sensitive information. It can also keep away unwanted or unauthorized people and devices that would slow down your connection or freeload on your internet service.
Below, you’ll find 10 simple, quick steps to secure your home network. Some are more effective than others at keeping hackers and freeloaders at bay, but all are useful in their own way.
It’s worth noting that nothing can guarantee absolute security from hacking attempts. But these tips make it much harder for anyone to compromise your network and data. For more Wi-Fi tips, check out how to tell if your internet provider is throttling your Wi-Fi and our tips on how to speed up your Wi-Fi connection.