Working from home: Wi-Fi security tips for remote employees

As companies enact aggressive work-from-home measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 among their employees, Inseego Corp. — which provides “purpose-built, enterprise-grade IoT solutions simplify your business” — offers the following information to help remote workers stay secure.    

“Hundreds of thousands of employees are now working from home, and for many of them, these are uncharted waters. They need to understand that using an unsecured Wi-Fi network makes them vulnerable to hackers, and take precautions against unauthorized users,” explains Ashish Sharma, president of IoT & Mobile Solutions at Inseego. “Wi-Fi routers need to be configured correctly in order to maximize security and protect sensitive data. We encourage everyone to follow their corporate IT policies, including use of VPN networks, and check their settings to safeguard their connections.” 

To secure your home network:

° Wi-Fi access points are usually configured by default to broadcast the name of your wireless network – known as the service set identifier, or SSID. Changing your settings to “hide” your SSID will help you avoid attracting the attention of opportunistic hackers.

° Use some variant of WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) – either WPA or the newer WPA2 standard.

° Make sure that any password (or passphrase) that protects your Wi-Fi network is long and random so it can’t be cracked by a determined hacker. Do not settle for the default settings.

° Establish a guest network for other users in your household, allowing them to connect to the internet without getting access to your company’s network.

Security is all about providing multiple layers of protection and these simple measures will help, but the best approach to security is to use a separate Internet connection with its own wireless access point.