Now that many of us have set up home offices, we’re using a home router not only for personal use, but also to conduct business. This can be dangerous, as the network security in your home office is most likely not as secure as working from your company’s office, leaving you vulnerable to security breaches and cyberattacks.
Your router is very important in terms of your online security. It checks incoming and outgoing traffic and is the gatekeeper to sensitive information. There are many devices that connect to your router, including computers, phones, TVs, and appliances. If hackers gain access to one device, they’ll potentially have access to all of the devices that connect to it, including ones that you may use for work.
To demonstrate the vulnerabilities of home routers, Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Communication (FKIE) recently conducted a study involving 127 home routers from seven large brands in Europe. The study’s purpose was to check the router’s most recent firmware versions for five security-related aspects:
Of these routers, 116 of 127 operating systems were powered by Linux, one by ThreadX and one by eCos.
Among the findings:
Although the above survey is European, the results are similar in America, according to ZDNet’s article about a 2018 US study by American Consumer Institute (ACI). ACI analyzed 186 small office and home office Wi-Fi routers from 14 vendors and found 155 – or 83 per cent – were potentially vulnerable to cyberattacks.
To start, you’ll need access to your router’s settings, which you can usually access through your web browser or an app. Once you’ve done that, you’ll want to follow this process, as summarized from WIRED’s article, “How to Secure Your Wi-Fi Router and Protect Your Home Network to keep your router safe:”
We can help you create a secure network, develop remote work policies and enforce them with technical and administrative controls, help train your staff on best practices, and integrate trusted and secure Cloud services to give you peace of mind – at work and the home office alike.