4 tips for working from home with Microsoft Teams

This blog outlines four best practices for working from home and using Teams to make your remote work productive. Tips include details on making the most of your virtual meetings, reminders on being inclusive, advice on using chats to collaborate, and information on customizing your workspace.
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Catholic Education WA (CEWA) fires up Teams and Office 365 for Virtual School Network, expands student opportunities | Microsoft EDU

Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) uses Microsoft Teams to promote equity of access to learning opportunities for students. This online school originated out of needs associated with distance and limited class offerings at small schools—but shortly after opening, they discovered that it was also beneficial for several other categories of students, such as elite athletes who frequently traveled or students experiencing health concerns and needed to work remotely. After only two years of operation, CEWA sees a continued demand for its service. Though the schools looking at online education due to the COVID-19 outbreak did not originally intend to offer virtual learning, it will likely lead to a discovery of benefits that may not have been previously considered. This blog provides an insight into what CEWA experienced during its transition, the advantages and peculiarities of virtual learning, and how Teams made communication and collaboration possible: "We believe that when you have strong relationships between students and teacher you get a great connection, and with a great connection you get great collaboration. Teams gives us the flexibility to collaborate in one spot," shares CEWA program manager Meredith Roe. Share this blog with educators for insight into what it's actually like in remote learning classrooms.

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Stay Connected with Teams

This video highlights how Teams helps people stay connected—even while social distancing. It briefly and visually covers a variety of Microsoft Teams features, showing you how to communicate and collaborate easily. Watch this short video to see how you can empower your team.

Mobile Device Sharing With KIDS

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Reference: Lifewire Commonsensemedia  Special Thanks From Silicon power

YouTube Parental Control Options

YouTube is world’s favorite video sharing application but at the same time it has become a nightmare for parents. As a parent, you have the responsibility to guide your child with basic internet ethics and safeguard from bad aspects of Internet and other applications. Please note that there is no guarantee that these safeguards will keep bad content from reaching your children's eyes, but something is at least better than nothing.

Use YouTube Kids – Using kids channel doesn’t totally make kids safe, but there can be one more way to help filter and monitor what your kids are watching on YouTube.

Set up separate accounts – Another tip is to set up separate Google (and thus YouTube) accounts for your kids, but be sure you know the passwords so you can easily monitor it. You can check their history after each session to see what they have been watching. 

Use YouTube Safety Mode /Restricted mode – There is also a Safe Mode feature that many parents find useful. Safety Mode allows you to block mature content from YouTube. It is an “opt in” feature and it’s not 100% reliable. Also, savvy children will know how to turn it off. You can use it as an extra safeguard, but know that it does not guarantee ultimate safety.

To enable YouTube Restricted Mode, follow these steps:

1. Log in YouTube and open the home page.
2. Click your profile picture (or the blank face icon if you don't have one in your account) on the upper right-hand side of the page.
3. Select Restricted Mode from the drop down menu.
4. Toggle Restricted Mode on by clicking the option to the right of the line that reads ACTIVATE RESTRICTED MODE.

Note:  In order to prevent your child from just turning safety mode off, go to step 4 mentioned above click Lock Restricted Mode on this browser. Repeat this process for all other web browsers that are on your computer 

Make playlists – This is a good way to protect younger children from bad content available in youtube. But it may not work well for other older age groups. You can create playlists for the videos you have already watched and allow them to watch. Then, make sure your child watch only from the playlist. 

Check history regularly – it is always better to regularly monitor what your child is watching by checking their history. One thing that gets many kids is the “related videos” that preload after watching something. It is very tempting for a child to just click on a related video and it might not be something safe for watching. 

Watch with your kid. Simply ask your kids what they are watching and join them.

Watch by yourself. If kids don't want to share, get the name of the channel they are watching and watch it later. Watch a few videos by the same creator to get a feel for the content.

Take a role of detective. If you are concerned about the content your kid is watching on YouTube -- and you have tried talking to her -- there are ways of tracking her viewing habits. If she has a YouTube account (which only requires a Gmail address), her YouTube page will display her recently watched videos, recommended videos based on her watch history, and suggestions for channels similar to the ones she has watched. Even if your kid deletes her "watch history," the recommendations all will be related to stuff she has watched.

Subscribe. Encourage your kids to subscribe to their favorite channels rather than hunting around on YouTube for the latest ones from a specific creator. Subscribers are notified when a new video is uploaded, plus all their channels are displayed in the Subscriptions section, making it easier, and faster, to go directly to the stuff they like. Consider choosing subscriptions together, and make an event out of watching the newest uploads with your kids.

Things to be taken care while sharing Mobile with kids

• Most mobile phone company like Microsoft's Windows, Apple's Mac OS, comes with robust built-in parental controls. Use the most updated version for best results.
• Download Google Family Link, Bank, Limitly and Teensafe to control and track online activity of children.
• Most Mobile phones allow parents to turn off features, like web access, texting or downloading.
• There are mobile phones designed for children with easy to use, and have features like limited internet access, minute management, number privacy, and emergency buttons.
• Turn on web filtering
• Phone with limited internet access
• Advise kids share GPS location to Friends that the trust and not with strangers.
• Web Browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari offers different ways of filtering out websites, that you don't want your kids to visit. Learn how to set restrictions in your browser. 
• Sometimes called "walled gardens," these are protected environments that fill up your entire screen (so kids can't click out of them). They typically offer games, preapproved websites, email, and various activities. Examples include Zoodles, Kido'z, andTweens Browser.

Discuss these basic safety rules before you give your child a mobile phone.

Texting

• Be respectful, both to the people you are texting with and those around you.
• Be careful. Assume that even private texts can become public.

Calling

• Verify the caller or texter. Don't respond to numbers you don't know.

Taking pictures

• Ask permission before you take someone's picture, take a video, or forward a photo.
• Don't publicly embarrass people. Don't post someone's photo -- especially an unflattering one -- from your phone without his or her permission.

Apps and downloads

• Manage costs. Make sure your kids understand that they are spending real money when they download apps, games, and music. Consider giving them an allowance for downloads or password-protecting the download function.
• Use parental controls. Depending on the age of your kid, consider using the settings to filter out age-inappropriate content, restrict downloads, and prevent in-app purchases.

Posting

• Be selective, not impulsive. Make sure kids know to be very choosy about what they post from their phones.
• Be safe. Explain the risks involved in using location services.

Facebook

What are the Dangers of Facebook?

Just like any social media, Facebook does come with potential risks and dangers. These include:

• Cyberbullying – Cyberbullying is the use of electronic equipment to bully a person. Any social media site provides a platform where cyberbullying can occur. Children may be bullied and peer pressured by their Facebook ‘friends’.
• Risk of grooming – A child may be at risk of being contacted by sexual predators if they do not take proper safety precautions. Often, predators create a fake account and pose as other children to build up a trusting relationship.
• Exposure to explicit content – Although Facebook does ban adult content, there may be a chance that some content slips through the net, which children may be exposed to.
• Over-sharing of personal information – Children need to be taught about the dangers of over-sharing. Sharing personal information and photos can reach predators’ hands.
• Exposure to radical/hate speech – Hate preachers can easily upload content onto Facebook which glorifies and comments terrorist acts and behaviors. While Facebook does have a team dedicated to monitoring and removing this type of content, things are not removed immediately due to high demand.

How to use Facebook Safely

There are certain measures you can take to ensure optimum safety on Facebook. You should show your child how to:

Use the safest privacy settings

If you access Facebook on a desktop, you should see a drop-down arrow in the top right corner. Click this for a settings option which allows you to choose your privacy settings, tagging settings, blocking, and many other features.

To ensure safety, we suggest the following settings:

• Make sure only your child’s friends can see their posts. To do this: go to ‘Privacy’ > go to the section ‘Your Activity’ > click on the edit button next to ‘Who can see your future posts?’ > set it to ‘Friends’.
• Only allow friends of friends to send friend requests. To do this: go to ‘Privacy’ > go to the section ‘How people can find and contact you?’ > click on the edit button next to ‘Who can send you friend requests?’ > set it to ‘Friends of Friends’.
• Use Timeline Review. Timeline review allows users to review what they have been tagged in, and what people try to post on their Timeline, before it appears there. This means they can hide any content they do not want their friends to see.

To set up timeline review: go to ‘Privacy’ in that go to ‘Timeline and tagging’ > go to the section ‘Who can post on your timeline?’ > set it to ‘Friends of Friends’

To enable timeline review got o ‘Privacy’ in that go to ‘Timeline and tagging’ > go to the section’ Review’ click on the edit button next to ‘Review posts that friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline?’ > set it to ‘enabled’.

The settings page can also be used to adjust various account settings, such as who can see posts on the user’s timeline. Adjust the settings accordingly.

Blocking

Facebook lets users block other users, message, app invites, event invitations, apps, and pages. Your child can freely block anyone who he/she feels is harassing him, or who he does not want to be in touch with.

To manage blocking,

Go to ‘Settings’ and then go to ‘Privacy’ in that go to ‘Blocking’. This will move to the page on which you can block accounts. Simply fill in the name of a friend or app that you want to block and click ‘Block’. You can unblock users or apps in future by using this same page.

Reporting

You can report abusive or explicit content, or spam, on Facebook. You can do this for anything you are able to see, including profiles, posts, groups, and ads.


To report a post: click the drop-down arrow in the top right of the post > click ‘Report post’ or ‘Report photo’ > select the option that best describes the issue and follow the on-screen instructions. For information about how to report other issues, Facebook Help Centre provides all the details.

Reporting Concerns to Police

Unfortunately, dangerous people do exist online. If cyber-bullying or grooming involves threats of violence, sending sexually explicit messages or photos, or stalking, you can report it to the police. Ensure that you keep messages as evidence, and do not hesitate to contact 100 in the case of emergency.

Parents guide for sharing a tab

• Settings for age appropriate Games and Apps
• Location services to be disabled
• Password control in app purchases
• Disable in app purchases
• Download age appropriate apps
• Change search Engine from google to child friendly search engine

Apps guide for parents

Some apps that allow children to create and maintain online relationships raise some important safety issues:

• Chatting with strangers

Meeting and chatting with strangers online poses risks to children who might be vulnerable to grooming and online (and offline) forms of sexual abuse.

• Sharing a location

Many apps share the user’s location. This can put children at risk from others who actively seek out children with the intention of meeting in the real world. Sharing a location can also raise concerns with identity theft and privacy.

• Sending inappropriate content

With the physical barrier of a screen, some people feel more empowered to pressurize others into sending messages, often of a sexual or derogatory nature.

Page Rating (Votes : 0)Sharing a device with your child - Family

mobile Security

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Providing mobile PC or mobiles to access internet for official purpose’s remote access to all business applications may put a personal or organization’s vital information at risk. For professionals or individual users, using mobile or mobile PC, there are plenty of benefits such as work from anywhere, etc...The mobile devices have their own characteristics but also with security concerns such as sensitive information access with mobiles.

There are various threats, which can affect the mobile users in several ways. For example, sending multimedia messages and text messages to the toll free numbers, unknowingly clicking for a message received through the mobile phone. Now-a-days many malicious programs have come which will try to get access over mobile phones and laptops and steal the personal information inside it.

Security Concerns

Exposure of critical information

Small amounts of WLAN signals can travel significant distance, and it’s possible to peep into these signals using a wireless sniffer. A wireless intruder could expose critical information if sufficient security isn’t implemented. 

Lost or Stolen devices

Even if sufficient security is implemented in wireless Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), if a device is lost or stolen. the entire corporate intranet could be threatened if those devices aren’t protected by a password and other user-level security measures.

Mobile Viruses

Mobile Viruses can be major threat, particularly with devices that have significant computational capabilities. Mobile devices, in general are susceptible to Viruses in several ways. Viruses can take advantage of security holes in applications or in applications or in the underlying Operating System and cause damage. Applications downloaded to a mobile device can be as Virus-prone as desktop applications. In some mobile OS, malformed SMS messages can crash the device.

Bluejacking

Bluejacking is sending nameless, unwanted messages to other users with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones or laptops.
Bluejacking depends on the capability of Bluetooth phones to detect and contact another Bluetooth enabled device . The Bluejacker uses a feature originally proposed for exchanging contact details or electronic business cards. He or she adds a new entry in the phone’s address book, types in a message, and chooses to send it via Bluetooth.The phone searches for other Bluetooth phones and, if it finds one, sends the message. Despite its name, Bluejacking is essentially harmless. The Bluejacker does not steal personal information or take control of your phone.

Bluejacking can be a problem if it is used to send obscene or threatening messages or images, or to send advertising. If you want to avoid such messages, you can turn off Bluetooth, or set it to “undiscoverable”.

Bluesnarfing

Bluesnarfing is the theft of data from a Bluetooth phone. Like Bluejacking, Bluesnarfing depends on the ability of Bluetooth-enabled devices to detect and contact others nearby.

In theory, a Bluetooth user running the right software on  a laptop can discover a  near by phone, connect to it without your confirmation, and download your phonebook, pictures of contacts and calendar. Your mobile phone’s serial number can also be downloaded and used to clone the phone.

You should turn off Bluetooth or set it to “undiscoverable”. The undiscoverable setting allows you to continue using Bluetooth products like headsets, but means that your phone is not visible to others.

E-mail Viruses

E-mail Viruses affect PDAs in much the same way regular e-mail Viruses affect PCs. These Viruses are costly to enterprises and interrupt normal business too. PalmOS / LibertyCrack is an example of a PDA e-mail virus. It’s a known Trojan horse that can delete all applications on a Palm PDA.

Malicious soft wares like Worms, Spywares and Trojans

Worms may disturb the phone network by spreading from one mobile to other mobile through Bluetooth transfer, Infrared transfer or through MMS attachments. Spyware that has entered into the mobile phone through Bluetooth may transfer the personal information to the outside network. The Trojan which got installed along with the game application in the mobile may send SMS messages to expansible members and may increase the phone bill.

TIPS for securing mobile devices

• Be careful while downloading  applications through Bluetooth or as MMS attachments. They may contain some harmful software, which will affect the mobile phone.
• Keep the Bluetooth connection in an invisible mode, unless you need some user to access your mobile phone or laptops. If an unknown user tries to access the mobile phone or laptop through blue tooth, move away from the coverage area of blue tooth so that it automatically gets disconnected.
• Avoid downloading the content into mobile phone or laptop from an untrusted source.
• Delete the MMS message received from an unknown user without opening it.
• Read the mobile phone's operating instructions carefully mainly regarding the security settings, pin code settings, Bluetooth settings, infrared settings and procedure to download an application. This will help in making your mobile phone secure from malicious programs.
• Activate the pin code request for mobile phone access. Choose a pin, which is unpredictable and which is easy to remember for you.
• Use the call barring and restriction services provided by operators, to prevent the applications that are not used by you or by your family members.
• Don't make you mobile phone as a source for your personal data, which is dangerous if it falls in to the hands of strangers. It is advisable not to store important information like credit card and bank cards passwords, etc in a mobile phone.
• Note the IMEI code of your cell phone and keep it in a safe place. This helps the owner to prevent access to the stolen mobile. The operator can block a phone using the IMEI code.
• Regularly, backup important data in the mobile phone or laptop by following the instructions in the manual.
• Define your own trusted devices that can be connected to mobile phone or laptop through Bluetooth.
• Use free cleansing tools, which are available in the Internet to make your mobile work normally, when ever it is affected by malicious soft wares.

Online Banking TIPS & Safe Banking

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Online Banking can also be referred as Internet Banking. It is the practice of making bank transactions or paying bills through the internet. We can do all financial transactions by sitting at home or office. Online banking can be used for making deposits, withdrawals or we can even use it for paying bills online. The benefit of it is the convenience for customers to do banking transactions . The customers need not wait for bank statements, which arrive by e-mail to check their account balance. They can check their balance each and every day by just logging into their account. They can catch the discrepancies in the account and can act on it immediately.

RISKS

Link Manipulation

Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an e-mail (and the spoofed website it leads to) appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of sub domains are common tricks used by phishers. In the following example URL, http://www.yourbank.example.com/, it appears as though the URL will take you to the Attacker Database of the your bank website; actually this URL points to the "yourbank" (i.e. phishing) section of the Attacker Database website.

Filter Evasion

Phishers have used images instead of text to make it harder for anti-phishing filters to detect text commonly used in phishing e-mails.

Phishing Attacks

An e-mail message from a large online retailer or Internet Bank website announces that  your accountg has been compromised and need to be updated and givbes the link to update the same. So you follow a link in the message, if you click on the link it leads  to the website that is as similar as original website, it is spoofed login page. If you give the account details that will be redirected to the attacker and it might be misused.

Malware attacks

Attackers try to send the malware through attachments , try to trap you by sending false emails with attachments saying to update your account information.

Example:

Clampi Virus Targets Users at Banks and Credit Card Sites

Keeping up with the latest Web security threats is a daunting task, because viruses and Trojans emerge, evolve, and spread at an alarming rate. While some infections like Nine Ball, Conficker, and Gumblar have hit the scene and immediately become the scourge of the cyber security world, others take their time -- quietly infiltrating more and more computers before revealing the true depth of the danger they pose.

One such slow grower is Clampi, a Trojan that made its debut as early as 2007 (depending on who you ask) but is only now raising hairs outside professional security circles. Clampi primarily spreads via malicious sites designed to dispense malware, but it's also been spotted on legitimate sites that have been hacked to host malicious links and ads. Using these methods, Clampi has infected as many as half a million computers, Joe Stewart, of Secure Works, told a crowd at the Black Hat Security Conference in July, USA Today reports.
Once installed on a PC, the Trojan quietly waits for you to visit a credit card or banking Web site. When it detects you're on one of the roughly 4,600 financial Web sites it's trained to watch, it records your username and password, and feeds that information back to the criminals. Clampi can even watch for network login information, allowing it to spread quickly through networked PCs (e.g., those in an office). In fact, it seems that businesses have been the primary target of Clampi so far. According to the Times Online, in July, an auto parts shop in Georgia was robbed of $75,000 when criminals stole online banking information using Clampi. The Trojan was also used to infiltrate computers for a public school district in Oklahoma and submit $150,000 in fake payroll payments. 

TIPS

• Never click web links in your e-mail and no bank will ask you to update the accounts through online.
• Never provide personal information including your passwords, credit card information, account numbers to unknown persons.
• Never keep username, account name and passwords at one place. Always try to remember passwords.
• Always use phishing filters at your Internet browser.
• Do not click any images in the web sites if you are unsure.
• Confirm whether email is received from bank or not.
• Be cautious while providing bank details via online, before proceed further confirm with bank about the email you received. Think that if something is important or urgent why don’t bank calling me instead of sending email?
• Delete all cookies and history file before you perform online trasactions.
• Always use virtual keyboard while accessing online banking.
• Delete all the history and cookies once you are done with online transactions.
• Avoid accessing online banking in cybercafes.

Computer Virus understanding and How to prevent virus?

 A computer virus is a program which can replicate and attach itself to a program or files infecting the system without its knowledge. A Computer virus can be spread from one host to another by sharing infected file or by downloading infected files from un-trusted sources .All computer viruses are man-made, they spread only with human assistance and support.

Possible ways to get virus into Computers

Virus can be installed in a computer by downloading applications from un-trusted sites, by a removable medium like USB, CD, DVD’s and sharing files from one infected computer to another also virus comes through attachments with e-mails.

By opening a e-mail attachments

Whenever you download files with extension .exe, vbs, shs, pif, cmd etc received via email attachment. There is a chance of virus getting into your system. Sometimes the attachments contain an executable code with double extension like hi.doc.exe. If you open such types of files, virus will enter into your system.

Check for extension of files and always scan the attached files before you download.

By downloading files from un-trusted sites

Generally, virus is hidden in the files or program and enters your system whenever you download softwares or applications from untrusted websites.

Set the browser to open web pages only from trusted web sites.

By Removable Medium

Whenever you copy files or download files from an infected removable medium like USB, CD, DVD drives then the virus may enter into your system.

Always scan the removable medium before you open.

While downloading games

Virus and worms may enter into a system when you try to download or install a game on your computer. The malicious program may be hidden in the files you download.

Always scan the file before and after sharing a file and downloading from another computer.

By sharing files

Virus will install into your system when ever you share files from one infected computer to another computer.

Scan the file before share a file

Signs of Computer Virus

•  Computer runs more slowly than normal
•  Computer stops responding or locks up often
•  Computer crashes and restarts every few minutes
•  Computer restarts on its own and then fails to run normally
•  Applications on your computer don't work correctly
•  Disks or disk drives are inaccessible
•  Can't print correctly
•  Unusual error messages
•  Distorted menus and dialog boxes

#How to prevent virus?

Check for attachments

Always check the attachments by scanning before you open them and make sure that the attachments are received from the known user.

Check for Extensions

Always check the file extension before you download and avoid downloading the files with double extension.

By Browser settings

Always set the browser settings to allow the sites only from trusted websites.

Ignore e-mails from unknown users

Avoid downloading the files from unknown user, and it is always better to ignore or delete the files from unknown users.

By using software

Always use anti-virus software and update with latest patches and scan the files before you download

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Broadband Internet Security

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• Internet is the channel to access vast pool of information & services available globally.
• Many home users use broadband Internet for accessing e-mail, online shopping, online banking, taking online courses, and many more.
• When the Internet connection is on, it is possible for other people to access our personal data by manipulating open ports on our computer.
• Without our knowledge, computer can be compromised and it can be used as launching pad for carrying out disrupting activities on other computers.
• Traditional Internet services are accessed in "dial-on-demand" mode, whereas broadband Internet is an “always-on” connection, therefore risk is very high.
• As broadband Internet is widely penetrated, it is very important for every citizen to securely configure for safe usage.

• Direct Attacks through Broadband Internet connection with their “Always On” state
• Default configurations and poorly configured systems are extremely vulnerable
• Network Sniffing (Capturing data in the network)
• Denial of Service attack

WiFi (Fixed Wireless):This type of broadband is widely used and delivered through radio signal rather than telephone wire and it provides us with all usual benefits. It requires “Line of Sight” between user and provider. ADSL / VDSL modems with WiFi are suitable for broadband access within home or office.ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line):

This is most commonly used for broadband Internet and it is 10 to 40 times faster than standard dial-up connection. This type of modems are also used to access Internet through telephone lines with speed upto 12 Mbps depending upon distance and quality of telephone line.VDSL (Very high Speed Digital Subscriber Line):

This type of modems are used for accessing very high speed broadband Internet above 16 Mbps and distance of 1 Km.Cable Modem:
This allows accessing Internet by utilizing existing cabling of telephone and TV.TA (Terminal Adapter):Modems using TA would allow us to make voice calls through service provider (like BSNL).Satellite broadband modem:

This uses a small antenna receiver dish fitted outside, which helps the user to link up with a satellite in geo-stationary orbit at an altitude of approximately 24,000 miles.Wireless Modem Setup

1. Read guidelines given in manufacturer’s manual for wireless modem connection setup
2. Check for proper power connectivity to PC as well as modem device
3. Connect the power cable of the modem to the power plug
4. Install the modem driver and associated software provided with the modem
5. Submit the user credentials and wait until the system is initialized
6. Once initialization is done, user can start accessing Internet

Do's and Dont's

Do's

1. Change the default administrator or admin password of broadband router modem, as these details are given by manufacturer which can be misused by anyone. Admin account acts as “superuser” and helps to configure and manage the router modem.
2. Enable SSH (secure channel) for remote administration.
3. Use effective end point security solution (with anti virus, anti spyware, desktop firewall etc) to protect PC / Laptop from broadband Internet threats.
4. Download broadband drivers from web sites recommended by the manufacturer
5. Regularly download the firmware (driver code) updates of the broadband router modem
6. Install broadband Internet bandwidth usage monitoring tool
7. Make sure that filter is enabled for broadband lines. This helps to filter unnecessary noise added during the transmission to avoid interruption
8. Power-off the modem router after completing the Internet access.
9. In case of broadband Internet access through USB, disconnect and remove the device
10. Make sure that broadband filter is used for each broadband Internet line
11. Use only the power adapter supplied by the manufacturer along with the modem

Dont's

1. Don’t enable the option for remote administration (via Internet), as it is not required for a home user
2. Don’t enable the option “Restore Factory Default Setting” in broadband modem
3. Don’t use USB broadband modem with insecure Computers / Laptops
4. Don’t use connection without a filter for each broadband Internet line
5. Don’t tap the line before the splitter (a small device that separates phone line from data / PC port).

Guidelines for securing Broadband Internet access:

• Change Default Administrator Password (and Username): In order to allow only authorized person to configure the equipment, manufacturer provides username & password to the owner. However, username & password details are simple and very well-known to hackers on the Internet. So, it is very important to change default Administrator Username and Password.
• Enable Wireless Security: Some modem routers like ADSL type II router supports wireless security.  Many security protocols are supported. User can select any one protocol and a protection key. The same wireless security protocol and protection key has to be enabled in laptop.
• Turn on WPA / WEP Encryption: All WiFi equipment supports some form of encryption technology.  Once enabled, this technology scrambles messages sent over wireless networks so that messages cannot be read by unauthorized people.  In order to use this feature, all WiFi devices must share identical encryption settings. Therefore we need to find a “lowest common denominator” setting.
• Change Default SSID (Service Set Identifier): Access points and routers all use a network name called SSID. Manufacturer normally ships their products with the same SSID set. SSID for Linksys devices is normally “linksys”. Change the default SSID while configuring wireless security, as it can be used by the attacker to break into the network / PC.
• Enable MAC Address Filtering: Every device is provided with an unique MAC address. Broadband access points and routers provide an option for the user to key in the MAC address of the home equipment. This helps to allow connections only from those devices.
• Disable SSID Broadcast: In WiFi networking, wireless access point or router typically broadcasts the network name (SSID) over the air at regular intervals. This feature was designed for businesses as well as to access public hotspots. For a home user this feature is unnecessary and can be an entry point to break into the network.
• Disable Auto-Connect to Open WiFi Networks:  In case if Auto-connect setting is enabled, computer can connect automatically without notifying to the user. This may expose our computer to security risks. This setting should not enabled except in specific cases.
• Assign Static IP Addresses to Devices: Most of the home users are bent towards using dynamic IP addresses, as DHCP technology is easy to setup. This convenience even helps the attackers who can easily obtain valid address from DHCP pool. Therefore turn off DHCP option in router or access point and use fixed IP address range.
• Enable Firewalls on each of the computer and the Modem Router: Broadband modem routers contain built-in firewall feature, but this option has to be enabled.  Computer connected to the broadband modem can be provided with desktop firewall for extra protection.
• Turn off Network during extended periods of Non-Use:  Shutting down a network will certainly prevent outside unauthorized people breaking into the network.  Since it is very difficult to frequently turn on and off the devices, at least it can be considered during travel or extended period offline.

Thank you.