Nowadays BYOD onboarding activities are being followed by staff, consumers and stakeholders at all levels.
Luckily, businesses are completely able to limit access to the network before customers are accepted.
When a user takes home a tablet, phablet, laptop, or smartphone and tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network, such links may be diverted to a limited list of access to the network.
BYOD onboard settings allow for the securing of seemingly complex environments.
There is no question that nearly all electronic devices will in the future be part of an online linked network. Currently, as we speak it is happening.
From wireless lighting and AC systems to smart refrigerators, microwaves, ovens, televisions and computer equipment – the planet has become a true IoT haven.
Interconnected Wi-Fi systems now have to deal with BYOD links, too.
Headless devices are quickly paired with BYOD, and a boom in these and other forms of devices is facing companies.
As Internet-ready devices are integrated into Wi-Fi networks, IT departments run the risk of losing any degree of network security control.
For businesses, the credibility of online security systems is sacrosanct, without which hackers will run unchecked and cause major damage to network security.
Guard against malware attacks with BYOD’s limited Wi-Fi access
Malware represents an important danger to IoT devices. Organizations have choices at their disposal; they can summarily exclude all BYOD devices, thereby restricting all access to the Wi-Fi network, or they can install powerful network systems to effectively manage the security infrastructure.
Over time, Ethernet was replaced by Wi-Fi networks, at least at the corporate level. Yet the pressure on IT security teams has not been lessened.
With many more people making demands on the Wi-Fi network of an organization, including staff, vendors, visitors and other stakeholders, the necessary changes are underway.
We are seeing a surge in the BYOD program being implemented. This practice has served productivity-enhancing purposes and fostered greater team motivation at companies.
But, given these positive outcomes, obstacles are in the offing. These include potentially endangering the core assets and data of a company.
Precisely what form of BYOD policies are followed with respect to Wi-Fi connectivity vary from company to company.
Various network security layers can be provided to different users, depending on their relation to the business.
Employees may have unimpeded access to a company’s Wi-Fi network, for example, while visitors may have limited access.
Recommendations for Securing Wi-Fi connections
Determining the approach employed for network authentication is imperative. WPA2-Enterprise a.k.a. WPA-802.1X mode, otherwise known as Portnox Transparent Protected Wi-Fi with SaaS implementation, is recommended by a leading BYOD Wi-Fi security service provider – Portnox.
This security management system for BYOD devices uses powerful authentication technologies to protect networks.
The Wi-Fi link is authenticated by means of separate identities, rather than using a single password.
This takes the form of a combination of digital certificates, orusername plus password. Corporations at the enterprise level around the board regularly allude to the usefulness of this form of configuration.
Any computer that requests access to the Internet must be authenticated, thus securing the endpoints and alerting The departments of any unusual network activity.
It not only protects computers, client documents, and defends against hacker activity, it’s also a much safer solution to implementing a common password simply.
For workers who have company-issued computers, and their own computers, many businesses use SSID.
Guests and contractors can connect to specific Internet connections for guests and contractors, without sacrificing the health , security and reputation of the network of companies.
There are some key issues about BYOD and Wi-Fi networks. Those involve, but are not limited to, the pressure on the Internet infrastructure and the costs associated with expanded usage of the Internet.
If bandwidth is overwhelmed, networks can slow down, and shut down theoretically. That is poor at any point for company.
Moreover, key business assets such as servers and data may be compromised in the case of a security breach.
This can seriously impact the company’s day-to-day activities, placing its own well-being at risk in the process.
From the beginning, the challenges of providing access to Wi-Fi at a organization are largely burdensome.
It seems a company can’t follow a blanket policy to defend against bad actors on all apps.
Nonetheless, implementing a strict BYOD / Wi-Fi policy is necessary to avoid data leakage, harm to the IT infrastructure, malware infections, or mixing of personal and corporate information.
Such problems are important elements to address when formulating ironclad security schemes for Wi-Fi links, however daunting they may be.
Wi-Fi Users: Employees, Contractors and Visitors
It makes sense to limit people’s access to the Internet, depending on their client relationship.
Entry to confidential data from a corporation, for example, should be limited to high-level entities with corporate employees bearing unique ID credentials. This refers to endpoints operated by companies.
At this point in the spectrum the standard of protection is exceptionally high. As the credentials include AD, Azure, AD, and OKTA, security decreases. BYOD employee also wants SSID, corporate employee, for this.
Employees act as permanent ‘owners’ of a company and their connectivity to BYOD Wi-Fi is usually accessible 24/7/365.
Contractors are persons with temporary credentials, and restricted Internet access should be provided.
Security levels for temporary credentials are lower, but Internet access given to contractors is longer than guests of a corporation are offered.
The contractors will be allowed to access more sensitive information and data, depending on the department at which they operate.
Segmentation is obviously one of the most efficient ways of shielding companies from malicious actors using their own devices through BYOD Wi-Fi connections.
Through positioning the outer edge of the Wi-Fi network as far as possible away from the inner center of valuable data like servers and critical business information, businesses can defend against malicious intent.
Headless apps tend to be the most vulnerable to attack.
Firewalls are poor security mechanisms to be used, and they are usually enforced at the outer edge of the network.
Typically, firewalls monitor traffic that passes through, and any security vulnerabilities that have made it into a network ‘s outer bands are usually now found within the network infrastructure.
That makes firewalls poor choices when it comes to BYOD and WLAN challenges.
Segmentation acts as a highly advantageous multi-level framework, in particular stability, protection and visibility.
For all of these factors, Wi-Fi network protection is no longer a value-added option with BYOD and IoT devices; it’s an absolute necessity.