83 %: Many restaurants and other businesses now offer free Wi-Fi. This makes sense, since people are more or less addicted to Wi-Fi, and mobile data plans from telecom operators aren’t unlimited yet. How do you keep your network secure when guests and unknown visitors are also connected to it? Here are a few tips:
Set up a separate network
Don’t just open up the Wi-Fi network you use for internal purposes to visitors. Make sure the guest network is separate from your professional network. There are several ways to do this, such as by setting up a separate Wi-Fi network with a specific password. If you choose this solution, be sure to inform your employees so they don’t give their visitors the password for your internal Wi-Fi, but rather the one for the guest Wi-Fi.
However, it is better to use a separate guest network that automatically creates secure visitor sessions and corresponding strong passwords. This way, each visitor has their own password that is automatically assigned. As a result, each visitor is also easier to manage should the need arise.
Another recommendation is to isolate everyone on that guest network. On a network, it’s very easy to see which devices or other users are still connected. For a guest network, we recommend making sure this isn’t possible. That way, visitors won’t be able to target each other.
Use time limits
Make sure a guest's access expires after a certain amount of time. You can choose whether that's one hour, one business day, 24 hours, or another time period.
Set a bandwidth limit
If your free Wi-Fi network uses the same internet connection as your internal network, you should set a speed limit on your guest network. Otherwise, your employees’ internet speed could be slowed down by visitors who are binge-watching Netflix or YouTube.
Block certain sites and categories
As a precaution, add a number of types of websites to the blacklist. These include websites about drugs, weapons, pornographic material, etc.
Set up a welcome page or ‘captive portal’ on your guest network.
This makes it clear to your guests that it’s your network. It makes it harder for hackers to set up a mobile hotspot near your business with a network name that resembles your business in order to steal data from your visitors. In addition, you can use that welcome page to promote your Facebook page or highlight a discount coupon or other marketing campaign.
You can also present your visitors with a set of terms of use that they must check off once they’ve read them. This provides your business with better protection in case that user engages in illegal activities through your network. Just think of scenarios where someone illegally downloads songs using your free Wi-Fi, after which the record label comes after your company for compensation.
You can also have a user log in through a ‘captive portal’ like this. That allows you to track them on your network and learn from their behavior. If you let them log in with a Facebook or Twitter account, you’ll also gain insight into additional details such as their name, age, gender, city of residence, and more. Your marketing department can then put that information to good use.
