Digital Hygiene Tech - CIS at Home

🛡️ Part 2: How Our Router Setup Maps to CIS Controls — The Real‑World Tech for Trust

Here’s how those simple actions we made in Part 1 help satisfy several CIS Controls (v8.1), giving everyday users meaningful protection aligned with respected cybersecurity best practices. Here

🧾 1. Device Inventory & Control → CIS Control 1: Inventory and Control of Enterprise Assets: “You cannot defend if you do not know what you have”.

1.1: Establish and Maintain Detailed Enterprise Asset Inventory

• Name and monitor each device (laptops, phones, smart devices, guest devices). Clear device names allow you to monitor connections and rule out unexpected ones.

1.2: Address Unauthorized Assets

• Remove old mesh devices or unknown devices and you can also block devices.
• Outcome: You're actively tracking what's connected, spotting unauthorized entries, and ensuring only known devices remain (CIS).

📦 2. Separate Network Segments (Main / Guest / IoT) → CIS Control 4: Secure Configuration of Enterprise Assets & Software

4.8: Uninstall or Disable Unnecessary Services on Enterprise Assets and Software

• By creating segmented SSIDs and disabling unnecessary protocols (WPS), you're hardening network device configuration. Turning off remote admin access and WPS reduces exposure via unnecessary services.
• This aligns with secure setup recommendations and limiting network services to reduce attack surface.
• Changed Default Admin Password: Default credentials are a well-known vulnerability. By setting a unique strong admin password, you follow secure configuration best practices for network devices (CIS).

🧒 3. Enabled Parental Controls & Time Zones → CIS Control 6: Access Control Management

• Router-level scheduling, pausing internet, or content filtering is a form of access control.
• You're defining who can use what, when, and controlling privileges

🔄 4. Enabled Firmware Updates / Auto‑Update → CIS Control 7: Vulnerability Management & Secure Configuration

• Firmware auto-updates keep the router patched against known vulnerabilities.
• This aligns with continuous vulnerability management and maintaining secure baseline configurations (CIS).

✅ Wrap-Up

By combining simple non-technical steps—like changing your admin password, segmenting devices, naming them, disabling features you don’t use, and enabling parental controls—you’re already meeting key CIS basic safeguards. This shows smart, everyday cyber hygiene without complexity.