Essay Sample on the Hacking of Home Network

Introduction

You may not offer much thought on the security practices especially those of software and Wi-Fi protection until your computer or your home network is hacked. I have come to realize that the advancement in technology has equally made it difficult for one to protect the security of his or her home network. As technology develops, the level of knowledge also increases hence making it possible for hackers to hack home networks. Worse is if you failed to comply with the security practices like updating your computer or installing the latest anti-virus. I have always paid less attention to most of the computer notifications that appear on the screen once in a while when I am busy browsing or compiling some information for work, in most cases I usually hit the close button and continue with what I was doing. The primary reason behind the behavior is based on my belief that once a person has purchased a computer, it is supposed to be having all the necessary installations because we rarely understand the notifications. What if it is "the bad guy" trying to access your computer by sending some notifications or what if the notifications may allow certain virus which will result in loss of data.

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Two months ago, my home network got hacked because of the bad security practices like ensuring that my computer is updated regularly, using anti-virus, and the spyware protection to mention but a few. Based on the significance attached to most of the computer programs, the role of regular updates is something which should occur automatically or rather initiated at the time of production by the software developers. Most of the people using the computers do not have any idea what some of this notification means whenever they appear randomly on our screens. Take the example of my case in which I saw a few notifications warning me to start updating my computer within the next hour to stay more secure and protected. At the time, I was also writing a report to our branch manager, and any disruption would ultimately affect the report which was also due in less than 2 hours. As such, little significance may be attached to the notifications with the primary focus left on the activity, you were undertaking on your computer. Until now, I am still convinced that one of the biggest mistakes which the software developers did was to develop computers which would require regular updates. Even though those who find time to update their computers would be better off, they ought to have extended computers which are already up to the task, let's say, for the next five years before requesting for an update.

The other bad security measure that led to my home network being hacked is the issue of the anti-virus. The anti-virus is supposed to scan the computer or the home network and give an alarm pertaining possible attacks from the hackers. The role is not being played by most of the anti-viruses that exist today; an anti-virus may scan the computer based on the known virus code patterns and ends up giving a false alarm in the event a code happens to match one of the standard file codes stored in the computer or found within the network range. I always ensure that I do regular updates to my anti-virus but it has loopholes which can easily allow the hackers to access any network information, and that was what happened in my scenario. The anti-virus has limited detection techniques hence may not be able to offer full protection to the computers or the networks. For me, it was my network which was hacked, and I lost a lot of personal information and data. The information included bank details, data stored for the company and other files which I had stored for future references. I also happened to have connected my TV and phone to the network at that time and were all affected. It's my view that software developers should develop advanced anti-viruses which can detect and protect networks and computers from hackers. As things stand, you and I, are at risk of being affected by the faults noted in the modern anti-viruses.

Conclusion

The existence of spyware is also something which should be looked at again and if possible done away with. The program compromises privacy because it can record passwords, credit card details, and banking credentials to mention but a few and send them over the internet to the hackers. Part of my home network hacking was attributed to by the existence of the spyware program. The program is malicious and may not be easily detected, most of the information and data were, therefore, received by the hacker without my knowledge. The hacking of my network shows how vulnerable our information and data are because of the bad security procedures put in place. The software developers should consider developing other more advanced security measures which may not be compromised with the aim of mitigating chances like mine. This is a wakeup call!