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There’s no single doubt that baby monitors have made lives easier for all parents. You can keep watch over your baby and the conditions of their room without necessarily being there. The device will alter you when your baby wakes up, needs to be fed, etc.
The recent cases of these monitors being hacked by hackers are high of concern, though! It’s genuinely chilling to imagine that someone, a total stranger, is watching your baby in their room.
Why would someone hack your baby monitor?
Three categories of people typically hack a baby monitor:
- Some prankster-type hackers will use your baby monitor’s talk-back function to wake your baby up in the middle of the night.
- Some hackers want to watch the lives of families as if they were reality shows.
- The monitor could be used by criminals to check on you when you are not at home or steal personal information collected over the microphone.
As a matter of fact: When it comes to your baby monitor, you should secure it the same way as you do your laptop and mobile device.
I have written this article for those concerned that their baby monitor may become the next target of those notorious hackers.
Below, I’ll share some crucial tips that you can follow to minimize the chances of your baby monitor getting attacked.
without any further due, let get discuss how to protect your baby monitor from being hacked?
NOTE: All the tips below are super-easy to follow, and you don’t need to be a techie to apply them.
Tip 1: Set Strong Username/Passwords For Your Monitors
To prevent hackers from gaining access to your baby monitor, you must set strong username/password combinations that are difficult to crack.
Most parents don’t know that most baby monitors come with a default username and password set by the manufacturer during shipping. Moreover, the hackers have access to this information because they can get in on the device manuals or via Google search.
They also take advantage of the fact that most parents don’t bother to change the default password, so they’re always able to hack into your baby’s monitor.
As a safety precaution, change the default password as soon as you install your new baby monitor!
Tip 2: Regularly Update your Monitor Firmware/Software
The second thing you need to do to make your baby monitor hack-proof is staying up-to-date on the latest device firmware and software upgrades and implement them as soon as they become available!
With time, the manufacturer of your monitor might discover a security flaw that might make the device easily hackable. They then address this issue by updating the software to seal the loopholes.
Unluckily, your device will become easily vulnerable to attackers if you don’t get the latest software update notifications.
So, how do you ensure your monitor is always up to date?
You need to register your new device with the manufacturer the day you purchase it. As soon as updates are available, you’ll receive monitor software and app updates from the manufacturer.
Tip 3: Secure Your Home Wi-Fi
A baby monitor can also be hacked through your home Wi-Fi connection or the internet.
Despite your baby monitor being protected by all the security measures, hackers will still find it if your home Wi-Fi remains unsecured.
Be sure to secure and lock down your wireless network with WPA2 and encryption as well as SSID masking. Honestly, this will make it pretty hard for the hackers to get into it, and they’ll probably give up shortly afterwards.
Find more details here on how to secure your home Wi-Fi, even if you’re technologically inclined.
Tip 4: Set up a Firewall
Another way to keep the intruders out of your baby monitor is to set up a firewall on your home internet. For those who don’t know, a firewall is simply software/firmware tasked with enforcing the security of your private (home) network.
It effectively blocks any unauthorized access to your home Wi-Fi, meaning it’ll give the hackers a tough time whenever they try accessing your home Wi-Fi or baby monitor.
If you’ve no idea how to install a firewall in your private network, I suggest that you hire a professional to do it for you.
Tip 5: Invest in a Non-Wifi Baby Monitor!
Would you be interested in knowing there’s a baby monitor that isn’t as easily hackable as monitors connected to the internet?
The particular baby monitor that I am talking about is known as a non-Wifi baby monitor. As you could surely guess from its name, you will not need to connect this device to a Wi-Fi network to operate.
Instead, it uses a unique technology known as FSHH (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum), characterized by a frequently changing transmission frequency. Hackers usually have difficulty breaching this technology!
Besides the technology, these monitors do not connect to the internet in any way, significantly reducing the chances of attackers gaining access to other devices connected to your home network.
If you’ve been wondering why most parents are turning to the non-wifi baby monitors that use the internet, now you have the answer!
Additional tips to make your baby monitor more secure:
- It is always better to purchase brand-new devices directly from the manufacturer. If you buy a used model, you may be more prone to being hacked.
- Keep the monitor off when it is not in use. It will be an easy target for hackers if you leave it on all the time.
- Put a strong password that hackers can’t easily guess on your home internet router. Remember to do the same for your baby monitor!
- Check your Wi-Fi router to see whether it’s being hacked. There are multiple tools to help you detect if your router is receiving any requests from third-party devices. One such tool is the F-Secure’s Router Checker.
Final verdict
These are the five tips you can start implementing today to significantly reduce the chance of anyone illegally gaining access to your baby monitors.
As I promised you initially, nearly all these tips are easy to implement for all parents out there. You don’t have to be a techie geek to put these tips to work.
Don’t wait any longer to implement these tips to prevent your baby monitor From Being Hacked. Don’t give the hackers an easy path to your baby monitor!