In order to make your home or business network secure you need to remove all potential entry points for hackers or unauthorized users. One of such attack points is your router administrative interface. If user with malicious intent gains access to your router administrative interface then he can do very serious damage to your network security. For example he can modify firewall settings to allow tracking software on the network or perform even more complex attacks. To prevent this from happening you need to make sure to always change your router password from default to a strong and secure one. Below are step by step instructions on how to do it:
1) Connect to your router administrative interface from your browser. Router administrative interface is typically available on http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1. If none of these IPs work please read our article on how to get router IP address.
2) Login to administrative interface. If you are unable to login and don't remember your router password try doing following:
- Lookup your router default password in router's manual.
- Try to see if router's default password is written on your router. Many ISPs place a sticker on a router or modem with login information.
- Check internet for default username/password combinations for your specific router.
-If none of above work you may have to reset your router. Check your router manual for specific instructions on factory reset. Make sure that you know how to restore your internet settings since factory reset will reset them. Do factory reset only as a last option when nothing else works.
3) Once you have access to your router administrative interface go to the "administration" tab. There you will be able to change password for your router. Make sure that your new password is strong and contains both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special symbols. If you think you may forget your password then write it down and store in secure place or store it in secure password manager application. Don't leave any of your passwords in places which are easily accessible to other people.
4) If you have multiple devices (for example both router and modem) on the network make sure that all of them don't use default passwords.