Thursday, June 3, 2021
Blog topics: Archive
JUNE IS NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP MONTH
By "The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned" -- Poet Laureate Maya Angelow
June is National Homeownership Month. And it's safe to say, within the past year, our homes have become so much more than, simply, the place where we live.
For a lot of people, our commute to work is taking us down a hallway, rather than a highway. And if you have children, you've already experienced what it's like to turn your living room, den or, perhaps, a bedroom, into a classroom.
Throughout it all (even now...), an important part of protecting our home is making sure everything from our laptops and routers to all the devices and systems connected to the Internet -- within our home -- are as safe and secure as the locks we have on our doors and windows.
At a time when the number of internet connected devices is expected to increase from 35 billion in 2021 to 75 billion in 2025, many homeowners are doing what they can to balance being comfortable and preserving their peace of mind with the necessity for being safe and secure whenever they're online. In fact, 127 new IoT (Internet of Things) devices connect to the Internet every second.
Maintaining your home's cybersecurity starts with seven helpful tips that are easy and effective and includes:
- Installing a VPN (Virtual Private Network)
- Hiding your IP address and encrypts data traffic over a secure network to prevent access to your personal data/devices.
- Locking Your Devices with a Password or PIN
- Preventing access to your laptop, tablet or mobile device.
- Changing the Name of Your Wi-Fi Network
- Avoiding the use of the name/model number of your router or using personal information as part of the name of your network.
- Changing Your Network's Default Password
- When creating a unique password, use at least 20 characters and a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
- Changing Your Network Administrator's Credentials
- Manufacturers often use the words "admin" and "password" as the username and password of their router's administrator page (making it easy for anyone to guess it).
- Placing Your Router in a Secure Position
- Router positioning helps with signal strength and placing it in the middle of the house avoids having the signal spill over to areas outside your home.
- Turning Off Your Wi-Fi When It's Not in Use
- Leaving Your Wi-Fi on at all times provides more opportunities for cyber criminals to break into your network; it also saves energy and offers more protection.
Whether you own or rent your home, keeping everyone cyber safe is another reason to celebrate and adds to your quality of life whether you're at home just to relax, you've got work to do, or there's a homework assigned that needs to be finished.