7 Tips to Help Remote Workers Secure Their Home Wi-Fi

by Louis Kingston

Do you remember that old song called “Dem Bones” that goes: “ankle bone is connected to the shin bone, shin bone is connected to the knee bone, knee bone is connected to the thigh bone…” and so on? (It’s in your head now, isn’t it?)

Well, legend has it that hackers sing a similar song to their kids that goes: “remote worker’s wi-fi connected to the corporate network, corporate network connected to the privileged accounts, privileged accounts connected to the confidential data.”

True, it’s not as catchy, but hackers have never been about style points. They’ve been about doing what works over and over again until it stops working. And unfortunately, they’re having a ridiculously easy time these days hacking remote worker wi-fi setups, and establishing a foothold from which they launch into corporate networks — often with the goal of deploying malware to harvest confidential data (e.g. customer credit card numbers). 

The solution to this problem? Ensure that remote workers fortify their home wi-fi setup, because it is definitely not in full security mode out-of-the-box. The problem with this solution? Maybe remote workers — especially non-technical types — don’t know what to do, and are afraid if they tinker with their router then they won’t just be banished from the land of Zoom conferences and Slack chats with colleagues, but they won’t be able to surf bizarre Reddit subs at 3:00am or watch Minecraft videos on YouTube. What kind of existence is that?

Fortunately, going from Wi-Fi security zero to hero doesn’t require a PhD in Geekology. Here are seven things that remote workers can and should do right now (if they haven’t wisely done so already) to protect themselves and their organization:

1. Toggle WPA2-Personal (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) instead of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy).

• Change the default pre-shared key (PSK) to something that is: 100% unique; at least 15 characters in length; uses a mix of numbers, letters and symbols; does not use memorable key paths (e.g. “asdfg”); does not use common substitutions (e.g. passw0rd); does not use any dictionary words; and does not use any personally identifying information (e.g. pet’s name).

• Change the Wi-Fi router’s default administrative credentials. To change it, remote workers simply head to an online platform that is usually located at http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1, enter the details password (typically “admin”), and change the password accordingly. The new password should check all the boxes listed in #2.

• Disable Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). This was designed to make life easier by allowing people to connect devices to their home network (e.g. laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.) simply by pressing a button on their router. No password verification is needed. However, while this is convenient, the protocol between the router and devices could be vulnerable to brute-force hacking techniques.

• Keep the router’s firmware updated. For instructions on how to do this for a variety of router types, check out this handy step-by-step guide (including screenshots).

• Change the default network name. This is used by the router’s encryption algorithm (along with the password) to secure communications. However, widely available password cracking dictionaries (a.k.a. rainbow tables) include common network names. The best advice is to pick something short and boring — e.g. “QT24L” and not “Can’t Hack This.”

• Turn off network name broadcasting. Yes, it’s convenient to see the network name when connecting devices. But it’s also convenient for hackers, and for neighbors who may not necessarily want to steal data, but have no qualms about stealing bandwidth to torrent files, stream movies, and so on.

The Bottom Line

Will implementing all seven of these recommendations make a home Wi-Fi network impenetrable? No. As long as there is going to be Wi-Fi, there is going to be risk. However, doing all of the above will certainly make it tougher for hackers, and like home burglars, most of them target low hanging fruit. If a Wi-Fi connection puts up a fight, they’ll usually just move on to the next victim until they find one who hasn’t followed the advice in this article.

Louis is a writer, author, and avid film fan. He has been writing professionally for tech blogs and local organizations for over a decade. Louis currently resides in Allentown, PA, with his wife and German Shepherd Einstein, where he writes articles for InfoGenius, Inc, and overthinks the mythos of his favorite fandoms.

6 Tips to Prepare Your E-Commerce Site for the Biggest Holiday Traffic Surge Ever

by Louis Kingston

So it begins.

No, we are not talking about the school year, the football season, or a dizzying array of television shows about zombies, detectives, and of course: zombie detectives (seriously, it’s a thing).

Rather, we are talking about the beginning of what for most ecommerce businesses is the make-or-break race to the end of the year called “gift buying season.” Except this year, things are going to be different.

To understand why, let’s zoom in on what, for most ecommerce businesses, is the most critical period of the gift buying season — Cyber Week — which starts on Thanksgiving, and runs through to Cyber Monday. According to research by BigCommerce.com, during Cyber Week 2019 same-store sales across all verticals increased by a whopping 21% compared to Cyber Week 2018, and the average order value jumped by 10%.

And now, we come to 2020, a year in which billions of people are either obligated or advised to stay at home. These folks aren’t going to even consider hopping into their car to navigate the mall jungle. Instead, they’re going to pause Fortnite, minimize Reddit, crack their knuckles, replace the battery in their mouse, and BUY all kinds of stuff online: from toaster ovens to 60” 4K TVs to luxury sneakers to mounted singing bass fish (remember those?).

Simply put: 2020 is not just going to break e-commerce sales records, but it is going to obliterate them. In fact, in terms of how many people buy stuff online and how much they buy, there may never be another year quite like it in terms of year-over-year surges in volume and value.

For e-commerce businesses, this makes the 2020 gift buying season absolutely critical — which in turn means that crashed or slow websites are NOT OK. In fact, the mere idea of their possible existence is horrifying and just plain unacceptable, like a floating island of fire ants (which, unfortunately, is also a thing).

To prevent a catastrophe worse than anything the Griswold Family might experience, here are six essential things do to:

1. Anticipate how much traffic is likely to arrive — keeping in mind that it’s probably going to be much higher than in past years during Cyber Week and throughout the remainder of 2020 — and proactively ensure that the host can handle the load. For more insight and advice, read our article on how to prevent traffic spikes from crashing your website.

2. Assess site speed, and if necessary dial up the velocity (and then dial it up some more). If you have any doubts about this, read our article on the 3 reasons why website speed is more important than ever.

3. Eliminate the 4 common causes of cart abandonment: unexpected costs, forcing customers to create an account, a long and winding checkout process, and bugs.

4. Optimize the mobile shopping and purchasing experience. During Cyber Week in 2019, mobile orders were responsible for 49% of all online sales.

5. Analyze and address security vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, shoppers aren’t the only people who love e-commerce sites — hackers do too, and they demonstrate their affection by deploying malware and launching DDoS attacks.

6. Use a reputable and proven site uptime and availability monitoring solution like AlertBot, which will instantly notify authorized individuals (e.g. webmasters, sysadmins, etc.) if something goes wrong.

The Bottom Line

There aren’t many things that can be said with certainty about 2020. However, two things make the list: we will hear the phrase “new normal” at least a thousand more times before the year is up, and the gift buying season for e-commerce businesses is going to be colossal.

Whether that is colossal good (think Avengers) or colossal bad (think the Death Star) will largely be determined by the six essential factors described above. Which epic story do you want your e-commerce business to tell in the months ahead?

Try AlertBot today and see why it’s trusted and recommended by some of the world’s biggest enterprises. There’s no billing information to provide, nothing to download, and you’ll be completely set up in minutes — click here.

Louis is a writer, author, and avid film fan. He has been writing professionally for tech blogs and local organizations for over a decade. Louis currently resides in Allentown, PA, with his wife and German Shepherd Einstein, where he writes articles for InfoGenius, Inc, and overthinks the mythos of his favorite fandoms.