I’ve run across a couple of articles in the past few days talking about passwords, and so I thought I would just post this reminder or hint that it may be time change the password on your router. We don’t think much about it as most people just hook it up at home, or the office and then set up the devices as they go. No one ever really ever enters the password as its usually in the manual and you really only enter it once or depending on how many external devices you have. And for the most part once we do enter into our laptops, iPads or other wireless devices we never do it again as we ask the device to remember. But you need to know that most all of these have the default password set. And that password is “password”! Which leaves your network very vulnerable to anyone passing by looking for a signal. Most places never change this so “password” gets you into a lot of places.
Which means you should at least change it the one time after plugging it in. And if you’ve had a few folks over, or are a business with frequent visitors its probably a good idea to change it on some regular schedule. If its just you and your buddies this is easier to do. If its your business you’ll need to let those that connect on a regular basis know and while it may cause a little irritation its better than having your files attacked or stolen.
As far as what the password should be remember this is your network and all your files. It shouldn’t be too easy to hack. Then again any password is hackable given enough time. The customary rule on this is an Upper Case, lower case, number and a symbol thrown in. Usually 8-12 characters total. And remember that you really only need know it that one time, or two to set up devices that you own.
