How secure is your nursery? Here are some tips for a safer baby monitor.
As technology continues to play a larger role in our everyday lives, parents are increasingly turning to new tech-based tools that help lighten the load and make their jobs as parents a little bit easier. But as technology advances, security risks and hacking vulnerabilities go up—and baby monitors are no exception.
While baby monitor hacks are rare, anything that’s connected to the internet is an open window to your privacy. Today’s WiFi-enabled baby monitors need to be secured just like any other online device in your home. Luckily, it’s not difficult to do, and the steps to securing your baby monitor aren’t much different from basic home security steps.
Securing your home router
Whether you have a baby monitor or not, making sure your wireless router is secure is a critical security step that anyone with home WiFi should pay attention to. The first step is to stay on top of your router’s software updates, as every new update is intended to handle any security issues that may have come up since the last update.
Second, you should always make sure remote router access is disabled in your firmware’s settings. Most routers come with remote router access already disabled by default, but if there’s a chance you might have changed this setting at any point in time, it’s a good idea to double-check.
The last step to securing your wireless router is quite basic, but possibly the most important: ensuring you have a strong WiFi password. If your WiFi isn’t already password protected, you should give it a password immediately—leaving your WiFi network open gives hackers an easy way into your home network, and ensuring it’s password-protected will significantly reduce the likelihood of a hacker gaining access to it.
Securing your baby monitor
When you first purchase a baby monitor, the first security step you should take is changing the default login information. Make sure you set up a strong username and password to prevent unwanted outside access.
If your baby monitor has a camera (as most WiFi-enabled baby monitors do), you’ll need to secure this as well. You can do this by staying on top of firmware updates, which is a simple way to keep hackers at bay. The instructions for updating your monitor camera’s firmware will depend on the monitor’s manufacturer, but a quick look at the instruction manual or visit to the website of the monitor you purchased can provide you with the steps to ensure your firmware is up to date.
Register your baby monitor
For the most thorough baby monitor protection, it’s a good idea to register your monitor with the manufacturer you purchased it from. This way, you can be notified when any new security updates become available. If any security vulnerabilities are found after the product has been released, the manufacturer will release a recall or software updates to handle the issue—but you won’t receive any notice of them unless you’ve taken the time to register your monitor.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to choosing the right baby monitor for you and your family. What matters most is that you take the time to learn the ins and outs of any baby monitors you’re considering and think about how comfortable you are with the level of security different monitors provide. For an in-depth guide on baby monitor security and how you can choose a safer monitor, check out the infographic below!
