How to monitor your home network like a professional security consultant in ten minutes

Cybersecurity can be a scary topic — so scary, in fact, that many everyday users don't know where to begin. Just look around you. You see other people with the same struggles: a constant stream of spam and pop-up ads, poor security on shared devices like printers, poor password management, and inconsistent IT support — we've all got our bundles of insecurity!

It's no surprise most people who are using their home network are not doing it as well as they could be. Yet now that IoT devices have become prevalent in our homes, the problem has only gotten worse.

Use a site like shieldsup! which will tell you what holes exist in your home network.

If you're like most people, you probably have a router and maybe a modem that are providing Internet service to your home. You may also have a few computers on the network, some of which may be shared by multiple people in the household. If you want to protect your home network from intruders, there are some basic things you can do to keep it secure.

The first step is to understand what is connected to your home network and what their roles are. Use a site like shieldsup! which will tell you what holes exist in your home network. The site will also let you know if any ports are open or closed and if there are any devices on the network that shouldn't be there.

Once you know what's connected and how they work together, it's time to start locking things down.

If you are using windows, these instructions will help you protect your home network by turning off unneeded sharing services.

You can do this in ten minutes or less. If you are using windows, these instructions will help you protect your home network by turning off unneeded sharing services. Step 1: Open the start menu and type "services" in the search box Step 2: Click on Services from the list of results Step 3: Scroll down until you see Windows Search (WSearch) Service, right click on it and choose Properties.

Then go to Startup Type and change it to Manual instead of Automatic. This will prevent it from starting automatically when you boot up your computer. Step 4: Scroll down until you see Windows Firewall (Firewall), right click on it and choose Properties. Then go to Startup Type and change it to Disabled instead of Automatic.

This will prevent it from starting automatically when you boot up your computer.

If you are using a mac, these instructions will help you protect your computer and home network.

If you are using an additional router or wireless access point, these may be possibly exploitable. you can check out the security of these devices with grc's router security check service.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong on your home network. The most common problems are: Your router and other devices on your network can be exploited by hackers. This is called a "man-in-the-middle" attack, which allows bad actors to see all of your internet traffic, including passwords and sensitive data.

Your router is configured with the wrong settings or has security holes that allow attackers access to your network. If you are using an additional router or wireless access point, these may be possibly exploitable. You can check out the security of these devices with Grc's Router Security Check Service.

If you have a smart home device like a thermostat or doorbell camera, they may not have adequate security so that hackers can access them as well as your home network by exploiting weak default passwords or using brute force attacks to guess them (see my article: How To Secure Your Smart Home).

These are some tips for protecting your individual computers against malware.

Malware is a complicated and ever-changing threat. It doesn't matter if you're running Windows or MacOS, or even Linux — malware can infect any computer. Here are some of the most common ways you can protect yourself from malware attacks: Keep your software updated. Software companies release patches for their programs on a regular basis to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities.

Make sure that you have automatic updates enabled for all of your software so that you're always protected from new threats. Use good passwords. Passwords should be long and complex — using at least eight characters that include upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols — with no dictionary words or obvious patterns (like "12345").

Don't use the same password for multiple accounts either, since if one gets hacked the others may be compromised too. If you need help remembering passwords but don't want to write them down where others can see them, consider using a password manager like LastPass or KeePassXC instead of storing them on your computer or phone's hard drive somewhere unencrypted.

Turn off web browser auto-fill features when it comes to financial websites like banks and credit card companies.

To Sum Up

Protecting your home network against malicious threats can be as simple as the methods we've outlined above. While these aren't foolproof fixes for every security threat, they're a good start for anyone who wishes to secure their home network and take charge of their own cyber security.