ABOUT
SAMANTHA

I live in Lincoln, Nebraska where most residents get their internet from one or two local providers. And like most people, I didn't think much about my router. It was just a box that made the internet work.

Then I started digging. What I found was not hackers or scammers. It was something closer to home. My local internet service provider had access to virtually everything passing through my router. Every device on my network. Every website visited. Every search query. Not because they were malicious, just because that is how the system is built.

For Lincoln residents especially, where your provider options are limited, this isn't a theoretical risk. It's just Tuesday. And most people in Nebraska have no idea.

Once I understood what my ISP could see, I started researching what bad actors could do. Unsecured WiFi networks, even at home, are a known attack vector. Neighbors, anyone in range of your signal, and anyone who has ever been on your network can potentially intercept unencrypted traffic.

In Lincoln, like everywhere else, phishing attacks, credential theft, and router-level malware are real and growing. Most home routers ship with default passwords that are never changed. Many run outdated firmware with known vulnerabilities.

The good news: this is fixable. A VPN, a properly configured router, and some basic hygiene go a long way. That is where Surfshark came in for me.