Best Practices for Securing Your NAS Against Cyber Threats

We often hear about hackers, ransomware, and data breaches, and let’s be real, we all feel a bit overwhelmed about it.  NAS device keeps your important documents, precious photos, and even your home security footage safe and sound. In simple words, it’s your digital treasure chest!

But just like a real treasure chest, your NAS needs protection.  When you leave it without protection, it is like leaving your front door wide open for anyone who may easily cause you trouble. With a few simple best practices, you can significantly boost your NAS security. Building your own secure digital safe includes the following steps:

1. The First Line of Defense: Strong Passwords

Although it might sound obvious, sometimes this is the single most important thing. Just like weak locks can be opened with little effort, passwords that are too weak can be hacked easily. Get rid of names, birthdays, and “123456” combinations.

Best Practice: Make your passwords have a minimum length of 12 characters. They should include a combination of numbers, uppercase, lowercase letters, and symbols, including !@#$%^&*. Ensure that the password you use for your NAS is not the same as the one in your other digital accounts. Do remember to use a password manager to generate, as well as securely store, strong, unique passwords.

2. Enable Account Security Features

Most NAS devices offer extra layers of security beyond just a password. Take advantage of them!

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): It is like having a double lock on your door. Even if someone guesses your password, they’ll need a second code that is usually sent to your phone to log in.

Account Lockout Policies: Configure your NAS to automatically lock an account after a few failed login attempts.

3. Update Your Defenses

Similar to your phone or laptop, your NAS has software that requires regular updating. These updates usually contain important security patches that repair gaps hackers can easily target.

Best Practice: Enable automatic updates if your NAS has the facility. If it doesn’t, periodically visit the manufacturer’s website and install them with caution.

4. Manage User Access and Permissions

You likely don’t want everyone to be able to see all the files on your NAS.

Best Practice: Set up individual user accounts for each person who requires access to the NAS. Give each user only the permissions to the folders and files they require. This restricts the amount of damage if any account is compromised.

5. Disable Unused Services

Your NAS probably has different features and services. However, if you’re not using a particular service, it’s best to disable it. Every active service presents a possible attack entry point.

Best Practice: Check the services on your NAS and turn off any that you do not currently use. Look in your NAS device manual for information on managing services.

6. Secure Remote Access (If You Need It)

Connecting to your NAS remotely from outside your home network is handy, but it poses security threats as well.

Best Practice: If you need remote access, use secure methods like VPN (Virtual Private Network). Avoid exposing your NAS directly to the internet using port forwarding unless absolutely necessary, and you understand the risks involved. If you do use port forwarding, change the default ports to less common ones.

7. Have a Backup Plan: Your Safety Net

Even with the best security measures, there’s always a small chance something could go wrong (hardware failure, natural disaster, or even a sophisticated cyberattack). Having a backup is your safety net.

Best Practice: Regularly back up your important data from your NAS to another location, such as an external hard drive, another NAS, or a reputable cloud storage service. Apply the 3-2-1 rule of backups, i.e., keep a minimum of three copies of your data on two different media, with one offsite copy.

8. Continuously Keep Learning About Security

The threat environment in cyberspace is always changing. It is important to remain up to date with current threats and security best practices.

Best Practice: Subscribe to credible cybersecurity news feeds, read your NAS vendor’s security advisories, and watch out for suspicious links or emails.

Maintaining the protection of your NAS should not be scary at all. By simple best practices, you will seriously improve your cyber protection and your most valued information from the enumerable threats of the cyber universe. This should be understood as that investment of a little time and energy today for enormous peace of mind tomorrow!