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.

How To Keep Traffic Spikes from Crashing Your Website

by Louis Kingston

At first glance — and probably second and third as well — having too much traffic seems like a really nice problem to have; like when billionaires struggle to decide which yacht to buy (“I say Thurston, the one with the tennis courts is quite lovely, but the one with the outdoor cinema is so charming”).

However, too much traffic really is a problem, because it causes websites to either dramatically s-l-o-w down (which is terrible) or crash (which is worse than terrible). And right now, as hundreds of millions of people are advised or obliged to stay at home, there are a bunch of e-commerce businesses around the world that are experiencing this harsh, costly reality.

The good news is that your business can — and should — take proactive steps to keep traffic spikes from impaling your website, and causing revenue losses and reputation damage.  Here is the to-do list:

1. Use a content delivery network (CDN), which is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and data centers. A CDN helps ensure that visitors — regardless of where they’re located — enjoy fast-loading pages, images, videos and other content, and it also leverages a network of servers to manage traffic spikes. Instead of a single server struggling to handle the load, multiple servers share the burden.

2. Check, double-check, and while you’re at it, triple-check whether your current server is capable of handling a traffic surge (pay particular attention to any data caps). This assessment is especially important if your business’s website has expanded over the years, but your server capacity has remained the same since day one.

3. Make sure that all of your software is up-to-date. In addition to patching vulnerabilities, updates can help lower the risk of a virtual traffic jam.

4. Run a daily backup. No, this won’t prevent traffic-induced website crashes. But yes, it’s a lifeline back to normalcy if a crash is on the horizon.

5. Use a reliable 24/7 website uptime monitoring solution like AlertBot, which proactively and immediately informs designated individuals (e.g. system administrators, CTO, CSO, etc.) if your website goes down, and can also check to make sure specific scripts and pages are working correctly. What’s more, if required you can use AlertBot’s logs as evidence to inform your host that they need to do a much better job of keeping your website online — or else you’ll head elsewhere.

The Bottom Line
More potential customers than ever before are using the web to find products and services — everything from digital gadgets to financial advisors to home repairs, and the list goes on. When the surge reaches your virtual address, you want to definitively know — and not just hope — that your website is ready, willing and able to handle the traffic.

Give AlertBot a try for FREE. There’s no billing information, no installation, and you’ll be setup within 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.