Audit every device on your home network
The average home network now has more smart gadgets than people, and most of them were plugged in, set up once and never looked at again. Find every device, work out what each one is, check which doors it has open, lock down the router (WPS, UPnP, remote admin, firmware) and move the gadgets onto their own network so a cheap camera can't reach your laptop. Ninety minutes, mostly free, and you'll know your network better than most small businesses know theirs.
- Smart devices moved onto a guest or IoT network, so a compromised gadget can't see your computers
- A filled-in checklist you can repeat every six months
- Admin access to your router (the password is usually on a sticker on the router itself)
- A Windows, Mac or Linux computer on the network, and your phone
- Optional: nmap (free). Windows needs the official installer with Npcap, which requires admin rights
- Optional: Watch your home network with Suricata afterwards, to see what the devices actually do
The rule, and what you're looking for
Scan only what's yours, and know what a finished audit looks like.
Only your own network and your own devicesScanning a network that isn't yours (a neighbour's, a café's, your office's without written permission) is off limits. In a shared house or flat, agree it with the others first, because their laptops and phones will show up too.
What a finished audit gives youa list where every device has a name, an owner and a reason to be there; every open port has an explanation; the router has no doors open that you didn't choose; and the gadgets you trust least sit on a network that can't reach the things you care about.
The kitlan-inventory.ps1 (device list), port-check.ps1 (open ports without nmap), upnp-check.py (UPnP and automatic port forwards) and router-checklist.md to fill in as you go.