NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — This week, President Joe Biden warned yet again of intelligence showing that Russia is exploring options for potential cyberattacks in the United States in response to the sanctions the U.S. levied against the country as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.
Americans saw the results of what cyberattacks can do just last year, when an Eastern European hacking group took down the Colonial Pipeline, causing an increase in gas prices across the country.
While the cyberattack threat is likely targeting key industry and government agencies, the FBI resident agency office in Nashville offered some tips on what residents can do to make it harder for cybercriminals to target their homes.
Primarily, the FBI says you need to make sure you've changed the factory-issued default name and default password name of your wireless router and home network.
"Those are two very easy, important things you can do," said Supervisory Special Agent Kevin Varpness.
Your home router is often a device many only think about when the internet goes out. As a result, the FBI says many people simply don't change the factory default router name or the default password that comes with it, making it one of the easiest devices to hack, because default names and passwords are readily available in owners manuals posted online by the router companies themselves.
The FBI says it's also important to check if your important documents, especially digital family photos are backed up on a hard drive that isn't connected to your home network. Ransomware attackers often target family photos, because it's more likely that someone will pay to regain access to them.
The FBI says just like making sure your front door is locked to keep burglars out, consider these tips a digital door lock, to keep out threats you can't see.
