Serious Discussion How Can I Protect My Wi-Fi Router from Being Accessed Remotely?

[Leoelsh]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been noticing some unusual activity on my home network recently. I suspect that my Wi-Fi router may have been accessed remotely, and I'm worried that my personal data could be compromised.

What steps can I take to secure my router against remote access? I’ve already changed the admin password and updated the firmware, but I’m wondering if there are additional measures, like specific firewall settings, that could provide extra protection.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bot]

Hi,

Great start by changing the admin password and updating the firmware. Here are a few more steps:

1. Disable Remote Management: This blocks access to the router's admin panel from outside your home network.
2. Enable WPA3 Encryption: This is the latest and most secure Wi-Fi encryption.
3. Use a Strong Wi-Fi Password: This makes it harder for anyone to guess your password.
4. Disable WPS: It has known security issues.
5. Use a Guest Network: This keeps your main network secure.
6. Regularly Check for Firmware Updates: This ensures your router has the latest security patches.

Stay safe!

 

[Marko :)]

Your Wi-Fi router cannot be accessed from outside, it can only be accessed from within your home network. If someone accessed it, that could mean only two things. You either have intruder device on your own network, or someone gained remote access to a device on your network (less likely).

These are my suggestions:

1. Change Wi-Fi password once every 6 months
2. Disable WPS
3. Turn on guest networks and use it for connecting your IoT devices
4. Reduce power of your Wi-Fi network (so the signal only covers your home, not entire street)
5. Limit which device will have access to Wi-Fi router's internal page (example: only desktop PC can visit router configuration page)
6. Change router's admin username as well as password

And obviously:

1. Keep your devices clean by downloading only popular software from official websites
2. Regularly update your devices and apps.

All modern routers have log feature which writes down major events. It doesn't hurt to see them sometimes.

 

[Victor M]

Please supply brand and model/model # of your router. Without that info, it is impossible to determine if it has remote admin capability and if you can disable the feature. For the most part, what Marko said is true, but we need to know the particular model to know for sure. Knowing the particular model will also enable us to help you with turning on various features to protect you.

2nd question: What made you think your router was accessed remotely? What were the symptoms, were there signs of man-in-middle tampering? Ask chatgpt to explain the various attacks made possible if your router was compromised, then analyse those to see if they match what you have experienced.

When you ask about a specific solution, we can only answer what you asked (how to harden your router). You may be applying a solution you know Before correctly diagnosing the problem, and the solution may not have any benefit to your situation.

 

[badboy]

I've read that disabling UPnP is also a good idea. As for WPA3 Encryption, you need to make sure that all devices support this protocol, otherwise they will not be able to connect to the Internet. For example, the Wi-Fi module in my wife's PC can't do that and I had to switch to WPA2.

 

[Marko :)]

I've read that disabling UPnP is also a good idea. As for WPA3 Encryption, you need to make sure that all devices support this protocol, otherwise they will not be able to connect to the Internet. For example, the Wi-Fi module in my wife's PC can't do that and I had to switch to WPA2.

UPnP should be disabled if you don't use it. If you're a gamer or use torrent protocol, then you need it enabled. WPA3 caused headaches to me too, so I'm as well using WPA2. It's worth noting that WPA2 still isn't cracked and the only way for hackers to gain access to your network is using the unsecure password. Hackers still use "wordlists" to find the passwords, so it's important to use long and unique one.

 

[james112]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been noticing some unusual activity on my home network recently. I suspect that my Wi-Fi router may have been accessed remotely, and I'm worried that my personal data could be compromised.

What steps can I take to secure my router against remote access? I’ve already changed the admin password and updated the firmware, but I’m wondering if there are additional measures, like specific firewall settings, that could provide extra protection.

Thanks in advance!

It’s great that you’ve already changed the admin password and updated the firmware—those are solid first steps. To further secure your router, consider disabling remote management (if enabled), using WPA3 or WPA2 encryption for Wi-Fi, and setting up a guest network for untrusted devices. You can also manually review connected devices, enable MAC address filtering, and adjust firewall settings to block unnecessary inbound connections. If possible, switch to DNS-over-HTTPS for added privacy. Lastly, regularly check router logs for any suspicious activity.

 

[ProblematicPions]

Also, a good idea is, to check your router from the outside using Steve Gibson's ShieldsUP!: GRC | ShieldsUP! — Internet Vulnerability Profiling

First it checks UPnP (large yellow-ish button) and then, when you see the test results, you go back a page and just below the yellow-ish button you can click: File Sharing, Common Ports, All Service Ports, Browser Headers and some more specific ports.

What it does is, it scans your router from the internet-side and will show you if there are ways to get into your network fx. via an open port.

 

[susansochima]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been noticing some unusual activity on my home network recently. I suspect that my Wi-Fi router may have been accessed remotely, and I'm worried that my personal data could be compromised.

What steps can I take to secure my router against remote access? I’ve already changed the admin password and updated the firmware, but I’m wondering if there are additional measures, like specific firewall settings, that could provide extra protection.

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

Great start by changing the admin password and updating the firmware. Here are a few more steps:

1. Disable Remote Management: This blocks access to the router's admin panel from outside your home network.
2. Enable WPA3 Encryption: This is the latest and most secure Wi-Fi encryption.
3. Use a Strong Wi-Fi Password: This makes it harder for anyone to guess your password.
4. Disable WPS: It has known security issues.
5. Use a Guest Network: This keeps your main network secure.
6. Regularly Check for Firmware Updates: This ensures your router has the latest security patches.