Welcome to ‘The Safe Word’, the best words of advice in Security & Safety for today's world - brought to you by Stella Digital, your go-to partner for cybersecurity! In this 2nd episode, we meet Chris, the CIO for her firm, who is faced with migrating her company to a ‘remote work’ situation. Let’s join Chris now. CISO – a valuable team member (either a permanent or a temporary or fractional position) that can help transition people into a secure work-from-home setup. VPN – A virtual private network allows employees in a different physical location (home network) to operate as if they were in another logical location (work network) 2FA – Two factor authentication adds a second factor to the password such as hardware generated codes that change with time, or biometrics, etc...

Welcome to ‘The Safe Word’, the best words of advice in Security & Safety for today's world - brought to you by Stella Digital, your go-to partner for cybersecurity! In this 1st episode, Susan has recently been hired by a company, and they have decided that she will work remotely. We join Susan, as she begins setting up to work from home… **SECURING WIFI Router Admin Credentials – Change from the ‘out of the box’ default from the factory, they all are the same & that info is available (to criminals) Router / Network password – use complex password, restrict access / don’t share it, change periodically Network Name (SSID) – Change from default (see above) – Turn off broadcast and Hide network name (turn on for new devices to find it & then back off) Encryption – Turn on / strengthen – WEP, WPA, WPA2 - Select WPA2 (Strongest) & choose AES (may be on a second picklist) – If your router doesn’t have WPA2, you should consider getting a new one Turn off Remote Management – limit management (admin) access to physically connected devices Router firmware / software – Keep up to date – Similar to security updates & patches for your PC Router’s Firewall – Turn on – May be built into your router, may need a separate firewall Turn router off – when not in use, overnight, when away from home (weekend, vacation, etc.) Move router to center of house – Decreases the distance your network extends outside your home Protect / Secure the devices that attach to your network (PCs, phones, etc.) – Keep up to date; choose apps carefully, complex passwords, security software, A/V – Some devices come with a WiFi option (IOT); If a device doesn’t need Wi-Fi, disable it – Set up a ‘Guest’ network (if possible) – Use this Guest network for friends, relatives, rather than giving them full access to your whole network Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) – Disable – WPS is a service that makes it easier to connect – Convenience vs security Assign static IP addresses – The router is probably configured to use DHCP, which automatically assigns an IP address to devices connecting to it. Using Static IPs instead limits connectivity – Change your router’s default IP address and – avoid the factory default setting Turn off DHCP / Enable MAC address filtering – Allows only specific devices to connect to your network – MAC = Media Access Control, address unique to each device – These can be spoofed, so it’s only one step in securing your network Turn off Plug ‘n Play – When turned on, this allows other things (IOT) to connect to the internet