5 Important Security Settings to Configure After Setting Your Router

So you have just set up your home network, what next? Here are 5 important security settings to configure after setting your router. Don't forget.

After buying and setting up their wireless router, most people don’t give a second thought to them. They are of the thought that once their router is up and working, there is no need to configure it anymore and this lack of know-how puts a lot of households and networks in danger. Once you have set up your wireless router and it is up and working, you should configure the router to make it as secure as possible.

You can access the settings of the router from the admin page, which is usually accessible through default IP addresses like 192.168.0.1. From the router’s admin page, you can manage all of your router’s settings and configure the security of the router. Now that you know about the router’s admin page, it is time that we discuss important security settings that you need to check after setting your router.

Selecting the Best Encryption Protocol

Having an unsecured network means giving a treat to hackers and malicious actors. Hackers love an unsecured home WiFi network and if you haven’t secured your network then you are not only welcoming hackers but also unwanted connections into your network. That is why it is important that soon after setting up your router, you protect it with strong encryption.

By default, most router manufacturers have encryption enabled, as you are required a password to connect to the WiFi network. However, if it is not encrypted, then perhaps you should encrypt the network. Currently, the industry standard encryption protocol is WPA3, which is available on all the latest WiFi routers but if WPA3 is not available then you can still use the WPA2 encryption to secure your router. Anything other than WPA3 or WPA2 is not secure enough to protect your router.

Setting Up An Additional Network

The next setting that you should make in order to secure your network is to set up an additional network from your router. Modern-day routers available in the market have a feature that allows you to broadcast multiple SSIDs or networks from the same router so that you can create separate networks for your house guests, IoT devices, etc.

By segregating your network and setting up additional network(s) with a different name and password, you are making it harder for anyone to access your primary network and the devices on your primary network. Make sure that you secure the additional network(s) as well, as you don’t want random strangers mooching off your network.

Enabling Parental Controls

Most routers these days come with additional security settings like parental controls and time-based restrictions, and you can use these settings to secure your network and shield your kids from inappropriate sites. After you log into a TP-Link router or any other router, you can access the “Parental Controls” or “Access Controls” section and enable these filters to block inappropriate sites from the network.

Turning on MAC Filter

Another setting that you can do to make your router even more secure is turning on the MAC filtering. Each device has a MAC (Multimedia Access Control) address or physical address that is unique for each device. With MAC filtering on, you can specify which devices can connect to your network by whitelisting their MAC address in the settings.

You can look for the MAC address of each device in the settings and from there, you can enter the MAC address into the settings of the router. Although this is a bit technical, it can secure your router from all sorts of unwanted users.

Using Firewalls

While we are talking about other security settings, how can we forget about firewalls? A firewall is a valuable feature that can protect your router from unwanted access. A firewall monitors incoming and outgoing traffic on your network and blocks any suspicious traffic on the network. When setting up a firewall on your network, make sure that you tweak the port settings properly and don’t leave the wrong port open which might give hackers an opportunity to enter the network.

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