Residential Networking

Understanding Home Network Security

A home network can consist of any number of devices, systems and appliances all interconnected for functionality. Home networks are referred to as a Local Area Network (LAN). The main function of your home network is to provide a pathway to the internet, or Wide Area Network (WAN). This is accomplished by sending network traffic to your router, which in turn sends it to the intended destination, most of the time. Essentially, any device communicating or providing a service behind your internet modem is part of your home network.

Technology has exploded since the first home computers were introduced to consumers in the 70’s. Current home networks are required to handle communication from computers, cell phones, tablets, smart toys, printers, cameras, speakers, gaming consoles, vehicles and even smart toothbrushes. As a whole, households have progressed from minimal household bandwidth requirements to large data consuming homes and your network needs to be able to support the growth.

Another key task of your home network is to make sure the communication it is supporting is safe and authorized to be on your home network. With rising cyber security attacks, hacking and spyware, your home network has to be robust and proactive in keeping unwanted traffic off your home network. Most household routers offer a simple firewall to perform this task. A firewall is one part of a network that blocks inbound unwanted network traffic while still allowing outbound network traffic. As long as no ports have been intentionally opened and no vulnerabilities exist on the firewall, inbound attacks are typically futile.

The Dangers of Unsecured Home Network Devices

While protected from outside intrusion is a big part of securing your home network, a sometimes overlooked aspect of a home network design is the untrusted devices on the inside of your home network proverbial walls. Many devices we enjoy and even rely on can be less inert than you would think. Surveillance cameras are a great example of devices that “phone home” even when we don’t need them to. While we enjoy the service provided by surveillance cameras, having direct access to see your home, animals or property, a typical installation can open you up to prying eyes. Many video surveillance camera systems have technologies to scan your home network and then in turn send that information to a cloud server. It’s not so much the issue of the device and associated manufacture knowing what other devices you use, it’s the fact that hackers can use this information to target known exploits, weak default passwords or vulnerabilities within your home network devices. This behavior is not isolated to only surveillance cameras.

All Things Considered: An Analysis of IoT Devices on Home Networks

Let us help you secure your home network, inside and out!

IT NV offers simple and secure home networking solutions that elevate your connected experience, while keeping your security and privacy as priority number one. Our solution for home networking is a dependable wired and wireless connection, protected by rules and segregation. There are many trolling forces in the world of the internet and technology, your home needs to be protected. We utilize top industry standards in firewall design and implementation. We also offer segmented VLANs in an effort to keep your crucial network secure from less trustworthy devices in the IoT realm. Maintaining critical firewall access rules, we segregate your protected devices from the more vulnerable areas of your network. With our intelligent firewall protocols, we block unsolicited access from devices known to “phone home” while still allowing you to have the full intended functionality of the device. The best part about networks designed by us is that you get to enjoy the securities and reliability without having to necessarily understand the technologies and methods we’re implementing.

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