Why Keep Your IoT Devices On Guest Network

When someone imagines personal data leaks or security breaches, they might think of breaking into databases that contain millions of users’ information. These data breaches could happen to our homes, as it is happening more often than any one of us could imagine.

You can have a smart home which is a wonderful thing, especially by saving some money on the products which offer the same features without spending more as the products with big costs. But it can be a place for thieves who are looking for information to make some money out of your daily routine.

It is because many smart home devices which are also known as the Internet of Things (IoT) are not receiving regular updates such as smartphones or computers do. It includes all the things from a security camera in your children’s room to your front door smart lock or even the TV in your living room.

The very nature of the problem is that most electronic devices are connected to the internet in this modern age. But there are some simple steps that you can take for your home network protection and it will hardly take a few minutes of your time to do that.

Networking of smart homes is complex which provides service to many devices which might not have a secure connection on the assumption that your home Wi-Fi password and protocol of connection are secure.

Wi-Fi piggybacking is common in shared residences, condos, and apartments. There are several steps that you can take for protecting your Wi-Fi from hackers. Like, change your default password or change your SSID (Wi-Fi name you connect with). You can also secure your account by enabling 2-factor authentication which will guard your account against unwanted access.

A professor at Surrey University in the U.K. NishanthSastry specializes in network security and privacy of tracking technologies has stated that when you think of separating the networks and malware, having a guest network is most helpful. Because to access the private network, malware needs to pass through some additional loops that the guest network creates separating your devices and other things on the guest network. That’s why people cannot see each other’s devices on office guest networks. The employees get Wi-Fi access but their personal devices were kept from infecting the office’s network.