Not Checking This WiFi Setting Is Like 'Leaving Your Front Door Open' To Hackers

We love the internet. Whether we’re placing insomnia-fueled eBay bids on action figures from our childhoods, emailing the latest Taylor Swift conspiracy theory to our best friend, or just paying our electric bill, being online makes our lives more fun, more connected and a whole lot easier.

Unfortunately, there are countless creeps who love that we love the internet — and who would love to swipe our personal information. Last year saw a record-breaking number of data breaches, which increased 20% between 2022 and 2023, so, if we’re going to live digitally (and how can we not?), we need to be vigilant about protecting our privacy.

We can start locking down our information by looking at how secure the internet in our own homes is.

“You will probably not be shocked to hear that we’re the problem on this one,” Alysa Hutnik, a privacy lawyer with Kelley, Drye & Warren LLP in Washington, D.C., told us — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast. “It’s usually human error in how you set it up and how you manage your Wi-Fi.”

Listen to the full episode by pressing play, and discover tons of tips and tricks for keeping your online privacy protected:

The first thing Hutnik advised we immediately do is check our router settings.

“You get it out of the box — don’t leave yourself with the default factory settings because guess what? Those are public, right?” she warned. “It’s really easy for hackers to get into. You’re able to change those factory settings, including your password, and so setting up a really strong password and not having the default is super important.”

Next, we want to ensure we’re using encrypted settings.

“Usually somewhere in [your settings], there’s [an option to