Secure Your Home Network: a free hands-on course for beginners
Seven short lessons that take you through your own router, one setting at a time. You’ll find out what’s actually connected, close the doors that are open by default, check your network from the outside the way an attacker would, and finish with a ten-minute routine that keeps it secure. No jargon you’re not shown on your own screen, and nothing to buy.
0 of 7 lessons done
By the end you’ll be able to
- List every device on your network and identify the unknown ones
- Lock down your router’s admin login, firmware and remote access
- Set up Wi-Fi encryption, a strong passphrase and a guest network
- See which ports are open from the internet, and close the ones that shouldn’t be
- Check whether your router’s DNS has been tampered with
- Keep smart devices contained, and run a monthly check
What you need: your router’s admin login (often on a label underneath it) and a computer or phone on your home network. If you’ve never logged in to your router, start with Meet Your Router from Course 1: it takes ten minutes.
- 1
Take Stock of Your Network
Make a list of everything that’s connected, identify the unknown devices, and decide which ones belong on your main network.
Open15 minutes · hands-on - 2
Lock Your Router’s Front Door
Change the admin password, update the firmware, switch off remote access, and find out whether your router is still supported.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 3
Make Your Wi-Fi Hard to Crack
Pick the right security mode, set a passphrase that holds up, turn off WPS, and set up a guest network for visitors and gadgets.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 4
What’s Open to the Internet?
Scan your own connection from the outside, review port forwarding and UPnP, and close anything you didn’t open on purpose.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 5
Has Your Router’s DNS Been Changed?
Check the DNS settings attackers target, confirm who really answers your lookups, and know what to do if they’ve been changed.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 6
Smart Devices Without the Risk
Move cameras, speakers and TVs onto their own network, update them, and switch off the features you never use.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 7
Keep Your Network Secure
Test your IPv6 setup, learn the warning signs, and run a ten-minute monthly check that keeps everything you’ve done in place.
Open15 minutes · hands-on
What do you know already?
Try these three now, then again when you finish the course. Pick one answer each and you’ll see why.
1. Your router has two passwords. What does the admin password protect?
2. A port scan of your home connection shows every port as “filtered”. Is that good or bad?
3. Where should a smart plug or a cheap camera usually go?
This course is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: teachers and learners may share and adapt the lessons for non-commercial use, with credit to ExamineIP and a link to the original. The tools, books and other pages it links to aren’t covered by this licence.