Lab 12 · Home Network Security Lab: Router, Wi-Fi and Device Audit

🎯 Objective

Apply network-security theory to the one network you are authorised to manage: your home.

🧩 Skills You Will Practice

• Router administration
• WPA2/WPA3 encryption
• Firmware management
• Connected-device inventory

🧰 What You Need

• Your own home router admin access
• Permission of the household account holder
• A device inventory sheet
• The Network Security lesson for reference

📋 Step-by-Step Tasks

1. Log in to your router admin page (address is usually printed on the router). Record: model, firmware version, Wi-Fi security mode, and whether the admin password is still the factory default.
2. If the admin password is default, change it to a unique passphrase stored in your password manager. This is the highest-value fix in the whole lab — note it as Done only after you log back in with the new password.
3. Confirm Wi-Fi encryption is WPA2 or WPA3. If you find WEP or Open, change it to WPA2/WPA3 with a long unique Wi-Fi passphrase and reconnect your own devices.
4. Open the connected-device list. Inventory every device: name it (family phone, laptop, TV). Any device nobody recognises gets written down with its MAC address for investigation — do not ignore unknown devices.
5. Check for a firmware update from the manufacturer inside the admin panel. Record the current version and whether an update exists; install only updates offered by the router own update function.
6. If your router supports a guest network, enable it for visitors and note why: guests get internet without reaching your laptops and storage.
7. Write the audit report: 5 checks, result of each, fixes applied, and the one remaining risk you could not fix and why.

✅ Expected Result / Deliverable

A home-network audit report: admin password changed, WPA2/WPA3 confirmed, firmware status recorded, full device inventory, and remaining risks honestly listed.

⚠️ Common Mistakes

• Changing settings you do not understand and locking the household out
• Sharing your router password or Wi-Fi passphrase in the lab report or screenshots
• Auditing a neighbour or university network — that is not authorised