Tips to make your home WiFi more secure

When was the last time you took out the bins or unloaded the dishwasher and you didn’t make a big song and dance about it? If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The same is true whenever we do basic household chores. Both require an audience.

Your WiFi, however, just gets on with its job. Whether it’s adding extra guests to its network when they visit your home, downloading games with file sizes too big to comprehend or just being present and available whenever and wherever you need it, it’s your silent, hardworking family member that sits in the corner keeping out of trouble.

That doesn’t mean it never needs a helping hand, though. A quick WiFi safety check-up every now and again is never a bad idea. In fact, now we’re in spring, why not consider it a part of your spring cleaning? And yes, even if you haven’t started spring cleaning yet, this is the moment you realise it’s very much in all your futures (soz). Get the marigolds ready...

Here are five simple ways to boost the online security in your home.

You might already know that finding a central spot in your home for your Hub (otherwise known as a router) makes sense from a signal strength and connectivity point of view – but finding the right spot is also key if you don’t want to share your WiFi with a neighbour. If you position the Hub away from an exterior or shared wall, it helps to keep your WiFi signal confined to your own household.

It’s easy to check how many devices are hooked up to your WiFi by downloading the clever Connect app. You’ll find them all listed in the My devices section. Spot any unfamiliar devices lurking there? You can pause or disconnect them from your WiFi immediately using the app.

All our Hubs (as well as most routers) have a unique passphrase that you’ll need to access your WiFi. We suggest that you change this passphrase regularly to something only the members of your household will know.

And remember, the best passphrases include at least 12 characters with a mix of upper and lower case letters and numbers. The simplest way to change your password? Via the Connect app, of course – just select WiFi Networks from the menu in the Broadband tab.

The SSID (Service Set Identifier) is the name given to each Hub network – it’s the one that appears on your device when you or another user are scanning for available WiFi networks. But did you know that once your Hub has been set up, you can prevent anyone nearby from recognising your SSID? On the “WiFi Networks” section of the Connect app, you can also swap the default network name and password for something less recognisable. Check out more information about changing your Virgin Media WiFi password and network name.

The firmware in your Hub monitors the security for your network, so it’s good to reboot your router once a month to make sure it’s running with all the security patches and updates it needs. Need a little refresher on how to do reboot your router? Well, it’s as simple as… turning your Hub off and on again. Yes, really! Once the power is back on, it might take 5-10 minutes for the Hub to start up again.

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