Update Your Device – Preventing Cyberattacks on Your Home Networks

We've all received the notifications instructing us to update our devices, but do you know what they do? Aside from the latest features, updates include important security patches that can prevent hackers from gaining access to your phones, tablets and gaming consoles. You might think you're safe because your device never leaves your sight, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s safe from hackers and other invisible threats.

Even if you’re extra cautious with your apps, use multifactor authentication and are careful not to click on suspicious links, the truth is that you can still get hacked without the proper security settings.

Like most Americans, we’re virtually connected to everything in our homes. We have gaming systems, appliances, printers and home monitoring devices connected to the internet and our mobile devices. We even carry our wallets, life savings, social accounts, photos and shopping accounts on our phones. What would happen if someone was able to access those devices without our consent?

• Infected Apps - You may not realize it, but that new app you just downloaded could be infected with malware. Malware is malicious software that can be imbedded in an app without your knowledge and, in some cases, can even allow a hacker to control your phone. While there is risk with any app, unofficial apps carry the highest risk. Always install apps directly from the app store as they have already gone through Google and Apple’s rigorous security reviews.
• Printer - Is the password of your home printer the same one that it originally came with? Default passwords are all over the dark web. If you haven’t changed the password and are not maintaining regular updates, then you may have given hackers the ability to compromise your printer and possibly gain access to your computer. Printers were found to be the source of 24% of all security incidents, according to a recent report by Palo Alto Networks, a multinational cybersecurity company. Routers are also some of the most targeted devices.

How does someone gain access to a network using just a printer? Devices that are connected by a shared network can also be linked by the same data. These devices are tethered using IoT (Internet of Things) in order to connect, exchange and collect information with devices and systems over the internet. Attacks on IoT devices continues to grow and according to IBM, such attacks have increased by over 2000% since 2018.

One of the easiest ways to prevent vulnerabilities on your phone and devices is to complete the periodic software updates. There are several reasons why you might want to ignore the updates, but it’s important to remember that if we delay the updates, we are preventing the security patches to take place and are allowing our devices to remain vulnerable to an attack.

For example, Android’s October 2020 security update protects against vulnerabilities that would allow hackers to remotely access and transmit your information from your device.

Completing the software updates on your phone or gaming system in a timely manner is one of the easiest ways to prevent hackers from getting access to your information. To make it even easier to do this, you can set the updates to happen automatically at time that is convenient for you. Are you an early riser? Set your phone to update in the middle of the night. Are you a night owl? Set your phone to update in the morning while you are still sleeping.

For more information on how to update your personal devices, such as routers and printers, visit the manufacturer’s website.

Hughes Federal Credit Union is dedicated to keeping you and your personal finances safe. Stay tuned for more helpful tips as we continue addressing important topics during  National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.