It’s convenient to keep some things default, including some router settings. If you’re still using these default router settings, then you need to change them immediately—even if you don’t think you’ll get hacked.

Change the router admin password

A default admin password is just asking to get hacked

I’ve definitely left router administration passwords set to the default for far too long before, but it’s simply not a good habit to be in.

Your router’s admin password is the door to your entire network. If a hacker was able to guess your router’s admin password, then they could easily hack your network. With the admin password, they can change the Wi-Fi network name, access password, and so much more.

If a hacker can change all that information, they can then gain access to your computers on the network. Often, computers have the home network set as private and file sharing is also enabled most of the time. This means a hacker could start browsing the files on your computers just because they were able to access your router through the default admin password.

That’s only scratching the surface of what a hacker can do if they are able to gain access to your router’s admin panel, so this is definitely the biggest thing that you should fix on your home network if you do nothing else in this post.

It’s so easy to change the admin password on routers, and it’s something that everyone should do. Stop putting this off, and change it. You won’t regret a more secure router.

Change the Wi-Fi network name and password

A stock Wi-Fi network name and password isn’t actually all that secure

Credit: Goran Damnjanovic / How-To Geek

In addition to changing the stock admin password, you should also change the default Wi-Fi network name and password. While they’re typically randomly generated, they’re also not all that secure.

It’s best to change both the Wi-Fi network name and password, and not just one or the other. My router’s default network name is something like ATTRZ7sdcKx and the password is often something like s8fghw7fctiq.

While those seem secure, and they somewhat are, they’re also not the best to keep. For instance, that Wi-Fi network name screams “I’m using an AT&T router” and that gives hackers extra information about your network so they know how to try and infiltrate it.

Every AT&T router, for example, has a gateway IP of 192.168.1.254. Knowing that you have an AT&T router gives a hacker the exact IP to try and use to gain access to your router’s administration panel.

So, you should definitely change the default Wi-Fi network name. While you’re changing that, setting a custom password is necessary too. This is really to just add heightened security to your network. A randomly-generated password like I showed above is fairly secure, but it should still be changed.

The biggest issue with keeping a default password on your Wi-Fi network is the default password is normally printed on the router itself. So, if your router is visible from a window, then someone with prying eyes could technically look in and see the password to gain access to your network.

Reserve IP addresses for important devices

Letting static devices get random IP addresses is a recipe for disaster

Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek

Your router uses something called DHCP—dynamic host configuration protocol—to assign IP addresses to devices on your network. There’s a DHCP pool that has a set number of IP addresses it can pull from.

Whenever a device connects to the network, the router looks at that pool of addresses, finds one that isn’t in use, and assigns it. The problem is, if that device leaves the network, its IP address can get reassigned to another device.

This typically isn’t a problem with a phone or computer, as fixed IP addresses aren’t necessary there. However, with devices like a printer, server, or other system that is accessed by the IP address, this can be a big problem.

So, if you have devices on your network that should always have the same IP, then you need to reserve that IP so it doesn’t get handed out in the future should that device fall off the network for some reason.

• 

  Brand

  Unifi

  Range

  1,750 square feet

  Wi-Fi Bands

  2.4/5/6GHz

  Ethernet Ports

  4 2.5G

  USB Ports

  None

  MU-MIMO

  2×2 MU-MIMO

  The Unifi Dream Router 7 is a full-fledged network appliance offering NVR capabilities, fully managed switching,a built-in firewall, VLANs, and more. With four 2.5G Ethernet ports (one with PoE+) and a 10G SFP+ port, the Unifi Dream Router 7 also features dual WAN capabilities should you have two ISP connections.

  
  

• 

  Brand

  eero

  Wi-Fi Bands

  Dual-band Wi-Fi 7

  Ethernet Ports

  2 x 2.5 GbE ports

  Mesh Network Compatible

  Yes

  Amazon’s Eero 7 router offers high-speed Wi-Fi 7 connectivity with up to 1.8 Gb wireless throughput and a 2,000 square foot range. It also features two 2.5 GbE ports, though it notably lacks 6GHz connectivity, which is unusual for a Wi-Fi 7 router.

  
  

• 

  Brand

  TP-Link

  Wi-Fi Bands

  Tri-Band

  Instead of dropping hundreds of dollars on a mesh system that may not improve your Wi-Fi, consider investing in a high-end router like the TP-Link Archer BE600. With Wi-Fi 7 support, tri-band connectivity, and enough coverage to blanket even large homes, it’s the kind of router that can effortlessly handle a small apartment without the complexity and compromises of a multi-node mesh setup.

  
  

Yes, you are susceptible to hacking even if you don’t think you are

You might be looking at my first two points and saying, “I’m not worried about getting hacked. I’m a nobody and there’s no reason for a hacker to target me.” You’re partially right—there’s no reason for the hacker to target you. But, they still will, it’s only a matter of time.

I also thought I was impervious to the issue of hacking with my homelab, but I was wrong. If you’ve been using these router defaults for years without incident, that’s great, but you definitely should stop tempting fate and change your admin password as well as the Wi-Fi name and network password.