Checker › Guides › Home Network Checklist
Is your home network the weak link? A plain-English check list
If you work from home, your home network is your office network — it carries your laptop, your accounts, and your customers' data. Twelve practices decide whether it's a foundation or a hole. Check each one you honestly meet; the score updates as you go. Nothing is stored or sent — the counting happens in your browser, like everything on this site.
The 12 practices
Why the router items come first
Everything on the list matters, but the first five are the load-bearing ones, because the router is the only device that faces the whole internet, all the time. Attackers don't guess your laptop's password; they scan for routers still answering to factory credentials, or running firmware with published exploits. If you'd rather have the network checked for you end-to-end, a home-network security checker walks the same ground automatically. And if the checklist habit appeals to you, SiteCredly's hub tool — the free disclosure checker — applies the same idea to your ad creatives.
The devices you forgot you owned
The average home network now carries phones, laptops, a TV, a doorbell, a thermostat, bulbs, plugs, a printer, and a games console — most of them computers, most of them never updated after installation day. You don't need to become their administrator. You need three things: their default passwords changed, a guest network between them and your real machines, and a quarterly glance at the connected-devices list to catch anything you can't name.
Frequently asked questions
What is the single most important home network fix?
Change the router's admin password from its factory default and turn on automatic firmware updates. Most home breaches walk through a router that still has the password printed on its sticker.
Is WPA2 still safe enough?
WPA2 with a long, unique passphrase is acceptable for most homes. WPA3 is better and is standard on routers from the last few years — enable it if your devices support it, and avoid WEP and WPA entirely.
Should guests and smart devices share my main network?
No. Put guests and smart-home devices on a guest network or a separate SSID if your router offers one. A compromised smart bulb should not be able to see your laptop.
How do I know which devices are on my network?
Open your router's admin page and read its connected-devices list, or scan with a phone app such as Fing. Anything you cannot name is a device to investigate or remove.
The home checklist covers your network. Your public website and your ad creatives are the other two surfaces a small business exposes.
Get the full website scan Get a full disclosure auditRelated: How to read a website security scan without being a pentester — severity thinking for your public site, the mirror image of this checklist.