Highlighted wordsare glossary terms — tap one for a plain-language definition.
Your RouterWhat it means: The device that connects a home or office network to the internet.Example: The box your internet provider installed.What to do: Change its default admin password and keep its updates current.Important: Put visitors and smart devices on a separate guest network.What does this mean? is the gate to every device in your home, and most people never touch its settings. CISA calls this module the minimum essential steps for home-router privacy and security.
Take control of the router
Default admin credentials are published online. Changing them is the single highest-value five-minute task in your home.
- Change the router's default administrator password.
- Rename the network so it doesn't advertise the make and model.
- Install FirmwareWhat it means: Software built into hardware such as routers, cameras, and smart devices.Example: A router update that closes a newly discovered flaw.What to do: Enable automatic firmware updates, or check for them every few months.Important: A smart device that no longer gets firmware updates should be replaced.What does this mean? updates, or enable Automatic updatesWhat it means: A setting that allows security and software updates to install with little or no user action.Example: Your phone updating overnight while it charges.What to do: Enable it for the operating system, your browser, and your apps.Important: Check occasionally that it really ran — silent failures are common.What does this mean?.
- Disable remote administration if you don't use it.
Encrypt and segment
Modern Wi-Fi EncryptionWhat it means: Converting information into a protected form that unauthorized people cannot easily read.Example: The storage on your locked phone, unreadable without the passcode.What to do: Turn on device encryption and use a passcode or biometric lock.Important: Encryption won't help if someone learns your account password.What does this mean? plus a guest network keeps visitors and chatty smart devices away from your laptops and files.
- Use current Wi-Fi encryption (WPA3, or WPA2 if that's the best available).
- Review the list of connected devices and remove anything you don't recognize.
- Put guests and smart-home gadgets on a separate guest network.
- Use a long passphrase for the Wi-Fi itself.
Brought to you by NorthBridge
Unfamiliar term? Open the Digital Safety Glossary