In this post, we will be explaining why having a properly configured broadband router matters with regards to cyber security and making sure your business is protected.

Having a correctly configured business broadband router configured by a professional is essential for all businesses, even more so in recent times when businesses are under constant threat from cyber criminals. This is because the router is the gateway into your network, if the router is misconfigured, out of date or has un-necessary ports open, then every device on your network is at risk.

It is critical that the administrative access to any router is either locked down a set of specific safe hosts, or disabled from external access entirely, this is due to the fact that is the administrative access is enabled globally, then your router will be getting probed and may well get compromised.

If the router is compromised, the malicious third-party could, as a single example, change the DNS settings on your network to go via one of their servers, this would allow them to inspect all lookups that happen from your network, they could then craft a fake website as a clone of one you intend to access (e.g. if they see you access online banking, they could craft a fake bank website, and directly intercept the real lookup, with the fake one, this can then give the third-party the full credentials required for full access to your accounts).

Another reason, would be for ensuring that remote-access is secured. If, for any reason, remote access to your network is required (to access secure business resources), then it is critical that the method of access is secure, fully up to date and only specific ports required for use for that application are open on the firewall. For example, if you have an SSL VPN configured, then you will only need port 443 open, you do not need any other VPN ports open on your router to support this and if they are open, they should be closed as they are not required for your use. Even better than this would be locking down the 443 access to a specific set of source IP Addresses, if possible, from the remote workers, but this is not always possible with many people working from home or using providers which do not have public static IP addresses.

Any open port is a hole in your network of which could lead to a threat making its way in, it is also important to ensure that you are running the latest firmware/software for all of your devices as there are always new threats emerging which are being dealt with in these patches.

When looking at things like Cyber Security or even when you’re thinking about obtaining the Cyber Essentials certification, it is incredibly important to ensure that your networking equipment is configured correctly and in a secure way, as this is a fundamental of your overall business security.

If you would like advice about securing your business then please get in touch.