Finally locked down my home network after 3 years of putting it off

I live in a small apartment in Portland and always figured my router's default settings were fine for just me and my roommate. Last month, I realized our wifi had been open to anyone within range this whole time... someone had even renamed our network to something weird. I spent a Sunday afternoon changing the password, setting up a guest network, and turning on WPA2 encryption. It took about 30 minutes total and I feel way better about streaming and online banking now. Has anyone else had a moment where they realized their network was way more exposed than they thought?

3 comments

3 Comments

miller.susan2mo ago

Default settings being fine describes a lot more than just wifi.

tyler_baker2mo ago

50% of data breaches start with default credentials still in place.

the_terry9d ago

Wait, "describes a lot more than just wifi"? Hold up, are you saying default settings are actually fine across the board? That's wild to me. I've seen so many horror stories about people leaving the default admin login on their routers, cameras, and even smart fridges. It's like leaving your front door wide open with a big sign that says "come on in." Tyler's stat about 50% of breaches from default credentials is crazy but I fully believe it. People just don't realize how easy it is for someone to look up the default password for any device online. I know it's convenient but that "it's fine" attitude is exactly how companies get owned.