The 3 biggest household cyber threats & why you should care!
Wireless modem/routers have become a common house hold term and seems to be taking over our lives. Today the average number of connected devices to families' home network is around 5.2 devices, with that number growing rapidly! From having your refrigerator order milk when it's low, turning on/off bedroom lights from a remote location, to surfing your fa
vorite websites while watching T.V, you just can't avoid being connected to the Internet in some way. In the U.S. alone, 97% of homes have some sort of mobile device that use Wi-Fi. This means we need to be smart on our networks and prevent being exposed to possible cyber-attacks. Below, are my top three cyber (hacking) threats we need to constantly be on the look-out for.
1.Phishing attacks (email)
Lets face it, everyone has an email account. This mean you've certainly been on the receiving end of phishing SCAMS. Phishing attacks are usually well crafted emails to look like its coming from a legitimate company and will, 9 times out of 10, will have a link within the email that users will be persuaded to click. If you click one of these links, your device could render control to hackers or leave your computer with a virus, worm, or Trojan.
TIPS:
Read your emails as plain text so you can see the URLs that images are links go to.
Hover your mouse over the link(s) so you can see the actual URL and see if anything stands out.
Download "Wifi Analyzer- Home Wifi Alert" And check the link with the Blacklist checker in the tools section. This will tell you if the link is bad; better safe than sorry!
Talk to your kids, teenagers, and even grandparents about not clicking unusual looking links within their emails.
2.Wireless Hacking
With the advances in wireless security, hackers have resorted to "out of the box thinking", as well as one of the oldest methods, relying on bad passwords. One of the most important security measures you can take in securing your WiFi is changing any default passwords to a more secure one. This should include the router administrator login. Keeping the default password/passphrase is just an invitation for hackers to infiltrate your network and steal your personal data. Also, if your password is weak or not unique it can easily be cracked by tools such as John the Ripper. I recommend passwords to be at least 12 characters long, include letters, numbers, and even special characters.
One of those out of the box methods hackers use is by using Evil Twin access points (AP). These are devices that have been set up to trick you into connecting to what you think is the legitimate AP, by imitating your access point. Once you connect to the Evil Twin AP the hacker has full purview into all of your network traffic and can even get onto your computer and steal your private data. One way you can defeat these Evil Twin APs is by using an application that can scan for all the APs around you and will help you determine which one is the legitimate one, such application would be our own Wifi Analyzer- Home Wifi Alert. After download, go to the AP scan tab and you will be able to see all wireless access points in range. Here you can make sure you are connecting to the correct AP with the correct MAC address.
TIP:
Keep your passwords out of the open, like on the fridge!
3.Outdated/Unpatched Software
Finally, my favorite. We've all gotten the annoying pop-ups notifying us of new updates for our phones, computers, or tablet... and most of us just will just close. Before you close the update next time you're playing your games, consider this: These updates/patches fix holes that hackers can use to get in to your devices or networks to steal your personal data, so updating/patching is a vital part for the protection of your home networks/WiFi.
TIP:
I recommend checking the manufacturer's websites on a regular basis to see if you are running the current operating system (OS), patches, and version. This will help you from being a victim and less vulnerable to a cybercrime.
