Essential Steps For A Secure Business WiFi Network

Though WiFi has marked a huge leap forward in internet technology, giving users freedom from all those irksome wires, your network won’t be secure from the word “go”. All that data is travelling through the air, and anyone with a mobile device and the right tools can easily tap into it. A secure business WiFi network is essential, so be sure to follow the following steps:

Select the right WiFi security options

WEP is easy pickings for even amateur hackers, so make sure you’re protecting your network with WPA2, the current latest security protocol. You can apply this in two different modes. Personal mode is fairly easy to set up, but susceptible to brute-force hacking. This means a hacker could potentially obtain your password using software that rapidly guesses it from a dictionary of common password choices. Enterprise, the right choice for all but the smallest businesses, prevents users on your network from hijacking passwords or spying on each other’s traffic. Checking and changing these settings is fairly easy through a PC’s control panel.

Set up separate WiFi for guests

Like many businesses, yours may have the need to offer WiFi to customers or visitors to your premises. However, you should never let an unfamiliar or untrusted person have access to your enterprise WiFi network. Make sure that guest WiFi is separate from the network your employees use, ensuring that there’s no way for them to access your files and devices, or spy on your traffic. If necessary, you can also add a separate encryption layer to your guest network.

Physically secure your network gear

Though this is often overlooked, you should think about the physical security of your network, on top of encryption. Take steps to make sure your wireless router and other vulnerable components are secured from visitors. Though this kind of cybercrime is rare, intruders can physically plug into a network if they’re able to reach it, and reset routers to their factory defaults in order to clear any security parameters. Furthermore, if there are any Ethernet ports in your office, make sure they’re only accessible to employees. These can be another access point for hackers.

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