# Is an employee's home router a risk to the company?

It can be, mostly indirectly. Home routers are often years old, never updated and still on the default admin password, and some models have known flaws that attackers exploit at scale to build networks of hijacked routers. A compromised router can redirect traffic, watch unencrypted connections and attack other devices on the home network, including a work laptop. The company cannot manage the router, so protect the laptop instead: endpoint protection, updates, the laptop's own firewall, the VPN or encrypted connections for all company traffic, and no personal devices on the VPN. Give staff a short checklist for home: update the router, change its admin password, switch off remote administration and automatic port opening (UPnP), and put smart-home devices on a separate Wi-Fi if the router offers one. NetSenX does not see home networks; it sees what the laptop does when it reaches a monitored company segment, or wherever it is if it runs the agent.

FAQ: [Remote work and exposed services](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/remote) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/is-a-home-office-router-a-risk-to-the-company

## Read next

- https://netsenx.com/en/is-someone-inside-your-network
- https://netsenx.com/en/encrypted-traffic-analysis

## Related questions

- [Is public Wi-Fi safe for a work laptop?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/is-public-wifi-safe-for-a-work-laptop)
- [Should a work laptop be used for personal browsing at home?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/should-a-work-laptop-be-used-for-personal-browsing)
- [Can staff use their personal devices for work?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/can-staff-use-personal-devices-for-work)
- [What should we do when a work laptop is lost or stolen?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-to-do-when-a-work-laptop-is-lost-or-stolen)
- [Can my employer see my traffic when I use the company VPN?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/can-my-employer-see-my-traffic-on-the-company-vpn)