Pick up your broadband router and turn it over. There is a sticker on the bottom or back with a network name and a password printed on it. For most households, that sticker is the only security setup the router ever gets.
The router is the front door to everything at home: laptops, phones, smart TVs, doorbell cameras and games consoles. Locking it properly takes about twenty minutes and needs no special skills.
Two passwords, two jobs
Your router has two separate passwords, and people often mix them up.
The first is the Wi-Fi password, which you type into a new phone or laptop to join the network. The second is the admin password, which protects the router's settings page. Whoever knows it can change how your network behaves, including where it sends your internet traffic.
On many routers the admin login is also printed on the sticker, or it is something simple the manufacturer used across lots of units. If it has not been changed, we would change it. To reach the settings page, type the address printed on the label into a web browser while connected to your home network. Your provider's instructions will also show where to find it.
We recommend something long and unique. A string of three or four unrelated words is easier to remember than a jumble of symbols and is hard to guess. Do not reuse a password from your email or banking.
The Wi-Fi name
Your network name, known as the SSID, is visible to anyone nearby. Avoid putting your surname, house number or street in it, as that tells a passer-by whose network it is and gives them a small head start. A neutral name that says nothing about who lives there is the better choice. It is also wise to avoid names that reveal the make or model of your router, because that tells an attacker which known weaknesses to try.
Changing the name is a good moment to look at the Wi-Fi password too. If you are still using the one from the sticker, replace it with your own long passphrase. You will need to reconnect your devices afterwards, which is a nuisance, but you only have to do it once.
Choose the right encryption
Encryption scrambles the data travelling between your devices and the router, so anyone who picks up the signal sees only gibberish. The settings page will have a section for wireless security, where you choose a standard. The names you are likely to see are WPA2 and WPA3, with WPA3 being the newer and stronger of the two. If your router offers WPA3, use it. If your devices are older and cannot connect, a mixed WPA2/WPA3 mode is a reasonable compromise.
Avoid any option labelled WEP or "open" or "none". WEP is an obsolete standard that can be cracked in minutes, and an open network has no encryption at all.
Keep the software up to date
A router runs its own small operating system, called firmware. Like the software on your phone, it occasionally has flaws that researchers or criminals discover, and manufacturers release updates to fix them. Many providers push these updates automatically, but not all do. Look for a firmware or system update section in the settings and check whether an update is waiting. If there is an option to install updates automatically, switch it on.
If the router is very old and the manufacturer no longer issues updates, ask your provider about a replacement. An unsupported router keeps any flaws it has for good.
Switch off what you do not use
Routers ship with convenience features that you may never need, and each one is another way in.
WPS, short for Wi-Fi Protected Setup, lets you connect a device by pressing a button or entering a short PIN. The short PIN makes it easier to break into than a proper password, so turning WPS off is sensible.
Remote management lets you reach the settings page from outside your home. Unless you have a specific reason to use it, leave it disabled, so that the settings can only be changed from inside the house.
UPnP, or Universal Plug and Play, lets devices on your network ask the router to open connections to the internet without asking you first. It is handy for some games and gadgets, but it also lets badly written software open doors you did not intend. If nothing at home stops working when you turn it off, leave it off.
Use a guest network
Most modern routers can create a separate guest network with its own name and password. Visitors join that instead of your main network, so their phones and laptops cannot see your computers, printers or storage drives. It is also a good place for smart-home gadgets such as bulbs, plugs and cameras, which tend to receive security updates less reliably than phones and laptops. If one of them is compromised, it is kept apart from the devices that hold your personal files.
A quick final check
Once you have made your changes, save them and let the router restart if it asks. Reconnect your devices with the new Wi-Fi password and make sure everything works. Then write the new admin password down and keep it somewhere safe, or store it in a password manager. If you ever lock yourself out, most routers have a small reset button that restores the factory settings, though you will have to repeat the steps above afterwards.
None of this makes a router impossible to attack, but it removes the easy openings that most break-ins rely on. A unique admin password, strong encryption, current firmware and fewer unused features cover most of what a home network needs.
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