Protecting your Online Life, part 3 - Home Wireless
Do you really need to broadcast your network to neighbors?
So far I’ve shared the importance of protecting your personal email address and your personal phone number to decrease odds of getting hacked online by the adversaries. Up next is protecting our home wireless network from adversaries…and curious neighbors.
A typical setup for home wireless network can consist of a generic SSID (Service Set IDentifier) network name, e.g. “Home-1X9D-5G,” and perhaps another network name like “Home-1X9D-2.4G.” These two names contain a randomized ID from the ISP (Internet Service Provider) and two radio frequencies, 2.4 gHz (gigahertz) and 5 gHz. While these wireless network names might be anonymous to neighbors, they still are being broadcasted to all within range. I find that concerning. Also, it might be tough to remember your network name when friends and family visit your residence and want to hop on your home wireless.
Pro tip: While it is effective for connections over a longer distance, try to decrease your usage of the 2.4 gHz network. It’s the same radio frequency as microwave ovens. You might have already experienced a drop in internet speeds while heating up leftovers or microwaving a popcorn bag while connected to your 2.4 gHz network.
The Rename
I recommend renaming your main wireless network to something unrelated to you, yet memorable. For example, “Deciduous,” “Evergreen,” or “Mahogany” are random network names if you like trees. “Smith Wireless” is easy for friends and family to discover when they want to join your network, but neighbors and adversaries will also find this easy to associate with your residence as well. Another network name idea is to choose a random username for your wireless network, e.g. furnitureclub or contactpaddle.
Tinfoil hat idea #1: A randomly-generated character string such as “L3HNTPUxsvM6kQ” or “74hGo9TERx” provides even more obscurity for your wireless network. You will recognize this network name in a list, but your curious neighbors might pass over it assuming it’s a printer or another non-wireless network tech device.
Tinfoil hat idea #2: If you hide your network name nosy neighbors, curious 14-year-old cousins, and approximate adversaries might not pick on your network since it’s not in their device’s wi-fi list. You’ll have to connect to a hidden network in your device’s wireless settings, but I’ve found this to be a reasonable tradeoff for improved wireless network security.
The Update
Just like we should be changing our essential online account passwords every six months, I recommend changing our wireless network passwords every six months. Since we, along with family and friends, will be entering this password manually in our devices, pick two words, put a number in between, and stick a special character at the end:
greyman1technology!
taylor2swift?
nerd4life.
Nothing wrong with writing your hidden network name and password on a sticky note in the kitchen for house guests to connect to. We look for the same information when visiting independent coffee shops.
The Overnight
A lot can happen on your home network while you’re asleep. Big tech companies often push software updates during the overnight hours because they assume customers will not be using their technology then. However, adversaries also assume people have their wireless networks active 24/7 and might attempt to infiltrate during times their target may not notice activity. Like when they’re getting some shut-eye. If you disable your wireless network during overnight hours, you decrease possibilities of potential mischief on your home network. To ensure valid software updates run before you sit down to your computer in the morning, set your wireless router to resume activity one hour before you wake up.
The Neighborhood
I do not recommend connecting to your ISP’s wireless network such as “Xfinity” or “XfinityWifi.” Despite claims to offer “amazing wireless internet coverage all over your neighborhood,” you may not know the difference between Xfinity’s legitimate wireless network name and a spoofed network name, created a clever neighbor adversary, to lure you into connecting to THEIR network. You give them your ISP username/password, run all your internet traffic through their computer systemm and potentially give them authentication credentials to other online accounts. Be careful out there.
The Message
It’s not a popular opinion, but I believe it should be difficult for us to gain access to our online life. By learning more about our technology devices, home wireless routers in this case, we can configure our equipment to avoid becoming low-hanging fruit for adversaries to gain unauthorized access to our resources. The trade-off of taking additional measures to increase our home wireless network security can result in a safer experience on the internet.