Most businesses in 2020 go a great length to keep any unauthorized users away from their networks, but Wi-Fi access points and routers are a completely different story because they can provide hackers with an easy way in.
This is because Wi-Fi signals are typically broadcast in and through the walls of the office and out in the streets or to the next building. This is like giving an open invitation to hackers and no wonder, any hacker considers breaking into Wi-Fi networks a past time activity.
Since a lot of businesses encourage their employees to connect to Wi-Fi on their personal devices, it is not a practical thing for companies to shut off their Wi-Fi access. So what can you do as a business to defend against security breaches on your wireless networks? We sat down with IT experts from Outsource My IT and they gave some much-needed tips.
Make Use of Stronger Encryption
- Many Wi-Fi routers and access points have an older WEP standard for protection. If you really want to protect your wireless network, switch to routers that give you at least WPA or WPA2 standard.
For smaller companies, it is very practical to use a WPA standard with a pre-shared key. This means that the employees will use the same password to connect and the wireless network security will depend on them not sharing the passwords with someone outside of the company. But it also means that you need to change the password on a regular basis.
Use Secure Passwords
- Make sure that the passphrase you use is long and random so it cannot be guessed by a hacker. Avoid writing dates, pet names, and using numbers in sequence to create passwords.
Have a Separate Network For Your Guests
- If you want visitors to use your Wi-Fi, it is a good idea to have a guest network instead of sharing password details of your main network. It essentially means that they will be connected to the internet without getting access to your main network. This is important because it will stop the spread of viruses and other malware that come from guest devices.
One way to do this is to create an access point so that it can be connected by guests. You can add a hardware access point and create a separate password for it.
Outsource Your Wireless Network Security
- Yes, you need to have password-protected access to your Wi-Fi. Encryption is an important tool in the fight against tampering and cybercrime. A professional can tell you whether someone can gain access to a wireless port or source that isn’t encrypted. If your business has guest Wi-Fi access, that access has to be through a separate network with set permissions. And routers can be vulnerable points of access.
Since so much goes into securing your network, it is critical that you work with a professional provider of comprehensive wireless network services.
- Outsource My IT serves small to midsize businesses by ensuring that the wireless access to your network is secure and safe from unauthorized access and cybercriminals. The wireless implementation professionals of Outsource My IT can encrypt your data and make sure all access points to your network are secure. We can even improve your productivity with Wi-Fi by setting up a secure file sync application, so your internal network can provide files and information to the external network, but the guests on the external network can’t access anything internally.
We partner with Ubiquiti, a technology company in New York that manufactures wireless data communication solutions, to provide products that run on a mesh network. A mesh network enables you to have one secure wireless network throughout your entire company no matter how large you are. Our partnership with Ubiquiti allows us to create desk networks and live networks while providing us with the ability to remotely monitor access points for high usage levels. Ubiquiti is also extremely stable, offering the benefit of maximum uptime for your business operations.
