Even though some people are out of work, you can almost guarantee cybercriminals and hackers aren’t. They are working harder than ever to gain access to your company. And with many people working from home with unsecured WiFi, it’s even easier for them to steal your confidential information.
If you’re like many of the small- and medium-sized businesses in the DC metro area, you and your teams have been working from home for the past few months or weeks. Unknowingly, this swift switch to telecommuting could have put your company at a greater risk of cyberattacks. Cybercriminals love home WiFi because it tends to be less secure than business WiFi if it has any security measures at all.
To protect your company and your assets, you need to educate your employees on securing their home network and WiFi, so they do not expose your company to undue cybersecurity threats while working from home.
Change the SSID
There are several ways business owners and employees can secure their home WiFi for business use. One of the first tasks to do is change the name of your home WiFi network. Known as the SSID (Service Set Identifier), you should change the name to something you’ll remember with no personal info attached to it. For example, don’t use “Matt’s WiFi” or “Smith’s Network.” You should also make it different from other WiFi networks around you.
Turn Off Network Name Broadcasting
Along the same lines, you should also turn off your network name broadcasting. When someone pulls up the available WiFi networks in the area, having your WiFi network appear as an option makes you more vulnerable to cyberattacks. When you turn off the network name broadcasting, users have to search for your unique SSID to connect to your home WiFi. These two steps together—creating a unique SSID and turning off network name broadcasting—create powerful home security so that you can use your WiFi for business.
Change the Password
Next, changing the password on your network router can help secure your home WiFi for business use even further. Use at least 20 characters and a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. Make the password something you’ll remember, but difficult enough for hackers and cybercriminals to not easily guess. Your pet’s name and your anniversary aren’t going to cut it here. Try replacing letters with symbols, like the @ symbol for A or O. The more complicated the password, the harder it will be for hackers to gain access to your home WiFi.
Use WPA2 to Protect Your Home WiFi for Business Use
The fourth thing you and your employees can do to secure your business WiFi is to enable network encryption. Using WiFi Protected Access2 (WPA2) with the strongest encryption option scrambles the data you access on your home WiFi, so hackers and cybercriminals can’t access your data without the encryption key. Check your router to see which type of network encryption it uses, and if it’s not WPA2, change it right away. Visit your router’s manufacturer’s online resources to see how to enable it.
Find a Network Security IT Partner
Securing your home network isn’t much different from the solutions Computer Services Unlimited provides for business WiFi and network security needs. In addition to the above measures, keeping your router software updated and enabling the use of a firewall can help protect you and your company’s assets from cybercriminals.
Additional Tips
You’ll also want to set up a VPN—a virtual private network. A VPN allows remote users to access corporate applications and resources needed to operate without interruption. The private network is accessed through layered tunneling protocol, and VPN users access the data through authentication methods, such as passwords or certificates.
Additionally, you should keep your router in the middle of your home. Not only does this provide more equal access to all rooms in your home, but it reduces the reach of your WiFi signal outside of your home.
Most importantly, if you haven’t downloaded our Work From Home Gameplan, you should get it now. It provides you with all the tips and resources you need to safely set up a work from home system for your employees, as well as the necessary characteristics to look for when choosing a professional IT partner.
Need Help with Your WiFi for Business?
Computer Services Unlimited is dedicated to providing first-class IT support, services, and solutions. As a small business ourselves, we know how critical cybersecurity is to your organization. Small businesses are actually more likely to be attacked by cybercriminals and hackers because they lack strong security.
Contact us today for a FREE 30-Minute Network Audit and allow our IT professionals to assist you in setting up a home system for your employees to safely and productively work from home without worrying about whether those criminals will hack your company’s assets and insider information.