How to protect your home Wi-Fi network from neighbours' connections

Potential dangers of an unsecured connection

Neighbors gaining access to your Wi-Fi network can threaten problems such as:

• Router malfunctions. Uploading video content or online games by unauthorized persons creates an increased load on the network, causing the Wi-Fi router to freeze. As a result, you will not be able to fully enjoy the paid Internet speed.
• Access to private information. Unprotected Wi-Fi gives access to your browser and personal data (correspondence, passwords to payment systems and visited sites, as well as actions and purchases on the Internet).
• Misuse of your name. It is possible that connecting to your unsecured Wi-Fi will lead to illegal actions on your behalf (downloading illegal content, videos, or even swindling money from your family and friends), for which you will be held responsible.

To enhance your network security, there are some basic ways to do so:

Come up with a strong password

The more complex the password, the stronger the security. Ideally, it should consist of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters. And preferably, it should be a complex combination.

To password-protect a Wi-Fi network, you need to go to the router settings. There, find "Wireless", go to the "Security" tab, enter a new password in the appropriate field and save the changes.

And to reduce the risk of hacking in the future, do not forget to update the password at least once every 3 months.

Protect access to your router

By connecting to your network, an unauthorized user can access the router settings and change them if desired. To prevent this, you need to change the default login and password for authorization in the router settings. This is done as follows:

1. Connect to the router using Wi-Fi or cable.
2. In the address bar, enter the IP of the device (usually it is indicated on the sticker).
3. Type the login and password from the router's web interface (usually "admin") in both lines.
4. In the web interface menu that opens, find the "Administration" section or a tab with a similar name. Here, enter the new authentication data and confirm the changes made.

Set Network Encryption

In the section with the option to change the Wi-Fi network password, there is an option to choose one type of encryption or another. Among the recommended ones to use:

• WPA2/AES — the most popular option today, which is simple and quite reliable.
• WPA3 — this authentication method is supported by routers with Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 ax), as well as most models of modern smartphones and laptops with Wi-Fi 6.

Hide your Wi-Fi network

It is unlikely to protect yourself from hackers, but it is quite realistic to protect yourself from your neighbors. To do this, in the "Wireless" section you need to check the box next to the item "Hide SSID" or "Hide access point". After that, you need to save the changes and reboot the router.

To connect to your Wi-Fi you will need to:

1. select "Other networks" on your PC or "Add network" on your smartphone;
2. enter the network name and password.

Disable WPS

With this handy feature, you can connect your devices to the Wi-Fi router without entering a password. But keep in mind that this makes the wireless network vulnerable to dangers. To deactivate WPS, just uncheck this item in the router's settings.

Besides those already listed, there are other ways to protect your home router from outside connections:

Disable remote access

Such an option allows you to control the router with an external signal. Usually, remote access is needed by ISPs to fix Internet problems without traveling to the user. But for Wi-Fi security, it is better to turn off this option by going to the settings in the "Security" menu.

Create a guest subnet

Many modern routers have the ability to create a VLAN, a virtual guest network. Devices connected to it do not access your main home network, so your data remains secure.

To enable this feature, you need to go to the Wi-Fi network settings. Then, set the name of the guest network and enter its password.

Update the firmware regularly

To enhance the router's protection and generally make it work more correctly, we recommend that you follow the following rules:

• Connect the router to your computer only with a wire during the update.
• Select the appropriate software version. Copy the router number and series from the sticker and enter these data on the manufacturer's website.
• In the process of flashing, disconnect the router from the external network.
• After downloading the required file, find the "Update" item in the menu. And then select our file and confirm the start of the process.

Limit the coverage radius

The signal from your Wi-Fi router can be caught not only in the neighboring apartment, but also in the neighboring house. Therefore, if you notice unfamiliar devices in the list of devices connected to your network, you should remove them. And to make the wireless network less noticeable, you need to narrow the coverage area. To do this, go to the router settings via the web-interface and find options to reduce the coverage radius or change the signal parameters. By the way, this method also helps to reduce the amount of interference.

Make MAC address filtering

MAC address is the unique identifier of each device. Most routers allow you to create lists of gadgets: "white" and "black". To customize the filter, there is a special option in the menu.

You can view the MAC of the client device in the connection features on a PC or in the "Device Information" section on a smartphone. But be prepared for the fact that each new gadget to be added to the list will have to be prescribed in the settings.

It's worth mentioning here that your MAC address can be intercepted and copied, so this method doesn't provide 100% network protection.

Use a firewall and VPN

To prevent attacks, you can use special defense measures. For example, such as firewall, firewall, DoS and others. If your router has these features, you don't even need to enable them, because they are activated by default.

If your router supports VPN, you can also activate this feature. It allows you to create an encrypted tunnel to protect both the router and all devices connected to the network.

Conclusions

It is possible to reduce the risk of unauthorized access to your home Wi-Fi network. Use the method convenient for you and you won't have to share the Internet with unwanted "guests".