network security
Router Security Settings Worth Changing (Beyond the Password)
This guide walks through the settings that matter, in rough order of importance. None require special software: just the router's admin page and half an hour. If you haven't changed your admin password yet, start with our home WiFi guide and come back. 1. Firmware updates: the unglamorous big one ...
What Does a Firewall Do? Home & Business Guide
What a firewall actually does Every piece of network traffic arrives at a door: an IP address and a port number. A firewall holds a list of rules about which doors may be knocked on and by whom. Traffic that matches an allowed rule passes; everything else is dropped silently. ...
Do You Need a VPN? What VPNs Actually Do (and Don’t)
What a VPN really does When you connect to a VPN, your device opens an encrypted connection to a server run by the VPN provider. All your traffic travels through that tunnel. To anyone between you and the server (the coffee shop's network, your ISP) your traffic is unreadable. Websites ...
