Do you want to secure your home? That’s what the NSA says to do
The National Security Agency (NSA) knows a thing or two about data security. While the NSA is primarily focused on protecting federal and critical infrastructure, it occasionally gives people like you and me tips on securing our home networks.
1 Update your operating system
According to the NSA [PDF]The most important thing you can do to protect your home network—and the easiest—is to update your operating system. Dan Mayer believes there are 15-50 bugs for every 1000 lines of code. This means that savvy hackers have many opportunities to exploit these flaws. Fortunately, operating systems are constantly updated with security patches that address these bugs as soon as they are found. Microsoft, for example, churns out security patches every second Tuesday of the month.
To prevent exploitation of these security flaws, you should update your operating systems as soon as a patch is available. To do this, we recommend enabling the automatic update feature.
2 Learn how to avoid phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are everywhere and their sophistication has improved dramatically thanks to AI tools. Phishing emails and scam texts used to be easy to identify because both were once full of bugs, but that’s no longer the case.
These days we are constantly bombarded with scam messages that look and sound legitimate. Here are some tips to identify and avoid these scams:
- Verify email address or phone number
- Check for errors
- Update your operating system
- Never click on links until you are sure they are legitimate
If you are ever in doubt, contact the official email address or phone number of the company that allegedly sent the message.
3 Use a Password Manager
Security Magazine reports that 78% of users use the same credentials for multiple accounts. This means that if your information is ever leaked—which is inevitable—malicious actors will have access to more than just one of your accounts.
We tend to reuse passwords because remembering each of the dozens of passwords we use is nearly impossible. That is, if you don’t use a password manager. Password managers are digital vaults that protect your passwords. These programs can securely remember and auto-fill login information and quickly generate long and complex passwords that cannot be guessed.
4 Change the default router credentials
Most router passwords have never been changed. After setting up the router, most of us congratulate ourselves on setting up our home network, but immediately forget to change the default SSID, username or password.
The problem is that these default credentials are easy to find online. With a quick Google search, cybercriminals can discover router information and potentially control your local network. After setting up your router, the first thing you should do is change the SSID, username and password.
5 Optimize your firewall
A firewall scans traffic coming in and out of the network to make sure it is safe. When setting up your router, make sure you enable its firewall features. You don’t feel the need to create your own firewall rules or customize them. The most important thing is that your firewall is enabled and its software is updated. Doing so will prevent most known malicious actors from accessing your network.
6 Only visit encrypted websites
There are two types of websites: those that are encrypted and those that are not. Encrypted websites like MakeUseOf.com are secure in that any information you send to the website will be encrypted and therefore unreadable if intercepted. If you can see, the website is encrypted https in the URL or if you see a lock graphic like the image above.
Unencrypted websites send information in plain text. This means that if you send sensitive information and it is intercepted, it will not need to be decrypted and decrypted. While you may visit these websites, I strongly recommend that you never send sensitive information to them. You’ll know it’s insecure because you can see the words Not Secure next to the URL. You can also see that the URL is HTTP rather than the HTTPS encrypted version. Finally, if you try to visit an insecure website, you may be confronted with a warning advising you not to use the website.
7 Computer camera cover
When you lock the door and draw the curtains, why not do the same with your computer camera? Covering your computer camera is digital hygiene 101. Why each of the above steps can be taken to prevent your computer from being hacked, should the worst happen and your camera is compromised, you can easily prevent bad actors from spying on you simply by covering your camera with tape or webcam cover.