Generally, no one thinks of changing it while it is used every day. It is even the first thing that the guests ask by crossing the threshold of the door of the house …
Our passwords, we hold a bit like the apple of our eyes. We choose them carefully, we memorize them, we even sometimes note them in a notebook or a post-it, for fear of forgetting them. And we are more or less right, because after all, they protect our whole digital life. Access to bank accounts, email boxes, social networks, health applications, online storage, etc. Everything goes. In general, we know the risks: if a single password is hacked, it is a part of our private life that can be exposed. Personal photos, messages, banking or health info, can become accessible to strangers or crooks. However, there is one that we systematically forget to update while we use it every day to connect to our smartphone, tablet or computer.
Despite multiple prevention messages or articles relaying hacks related to passwords, most people never change their Wi-Fi password from their internet box, which acts as a router. The British company Broadband Genie has published a study on this subject and the figures have enough to make people think. By questioning more than 3,000 people, experts realized that 72 % of respondents have never changed their Wi-Fi password. “Similar to the router administrator password, the Wi-Fi passwords by default are well known and it would take a few seconds to an informed computer hacker to access it”, warns the company. In addition, 75 % of participants never thought of checking if someone else used their network. Suffice to say that cybercriminals therefore have free field. So what to do?
In order not to take a risk, there is a simple way: to change your Wi-Fi password as well as the name of its network. The best is to personalize it as much as possible. Specialists in particular recommend creating “Passwords as long as possible while remaining easy to remember. If you can combine upper and tiny, figures and special characters, it’s even better”. To do this, simply connect to your customer account of your Internet supplier. For example, if you are at Bouygues Telecom, on your mobile application, go to “Home”, click on “My Bbox line” then on “Manage my Bbox” and on “Customize my Wi-Fi”. It is at this step that you can change your password and network name.
