Keep routers safe, change passwords regularly to prevent cyber attacks: Seqrite

Imagine this: An Internet-connected camera on your desktop providing live feed to a cyber criminal sitting thousands of miles away, even as you unknowingly go about your routine.

It is not stuff of sci-fi. If you leave your router unprotected, your cyber environment may have been compromised..

When did you change your router password last, ask cyber security experts.

The default user id for majority of the users is ‘admin’ and the password, undoubtedly, is ‘password’ or ‘welcome’ or ‘abcd’ for most routers.

Chances are, you might not have bothered about changing its password after you installed it months or years ago.

You are not alone. Majority of the router users never bother to change the passwords after they installed it to get access to the Internet. A router is a gateway between your digital devices and the Internet. It enables transfer of data to and fro. If you think your devices are safe by subscribing to an Internet security solution, you are mistaken.

Leaving your router unguarded and unprotected could make your cyber environment vulnerable to cyber attacks.

“Your router can be at risk too,” cyber security solutions firm Seqrite warns.

It warned the router users to change the passwords regularly.

Why it is important

“An attack on a router could give an attacker access to a connected security camera and offer a live feed of the household,” the firm says.

The threat, it says, is even more pronounced considering the spurt in the IoT (Internet of Things) devices. Connected devices are now proliferating in households, with smart lights, closed-circuit cameras, refrigerators and TVs becoming part of our lives.

Suggestions

In order to make your routers safe, it is important to change the default passwords set at the time of installations and change the password regularly.

Cyber security experts also want the networks to be named uniquely so that it is hard to decipher.

One should also remember to encrypt the networks.

They also want the users not to allow remote access. “Remote access to your router opens up a pathway to a malicious actor wanting to gain access to your WiFi connection. It might even happen covertly without the knowledge of the end-user, until the end of the billing cycle,” Seqrite points out.

“To ensure this doesn’t happen, disable any remote access feature that came with the router,” it suggests.