WatchGuard Debuts Cloud-Based Secure WiFi Management Platform

WatchGuard Technologies, provider of advanced network security solutions, announced the WatchGuard WiFi Cloud, a secure, scalable, and feature-rich WiFi management platform and a new family of high-performance, cloud-ready access points. When deployed together, this secure wireless solution delivers a sophisticated wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) technology. Additionally, it turns WiFi hot spots into invaluable consumer research, analytics, and push marketing tools. Architected from the ground up to focus on ease of deployment and administration, the WatchGuard WiFi Cloud simplifies even the most complex aspects of WiFi management, making fast, secure, and intelligent WiFi accessible to organizations of all types and sizes.
 
Most traditional wireless network management solutions fail to stop rogue devices from connecting to their networks or block threats like wireless denial-of-service attacks. If they have a WIPS, it delivers a high rate of false positives, incorrectly categorizing neighboring hotspots and innocuously connected devices as malicious, which creates unnecessary frustration and end-user complaints.

WatchGuard WiFi Cloud enables IT pros to deliver high-quality wireless performance, while ensuring consistent security policies across all connected devices, even at remote locations. The patented WIPS technology built into WatchGuard’s new cloud-ready APs (AP120 and AP320) automatically classifies wireless devices as Authorized, Rogue or External, resulting in a very low false positive rate. This advanced rogue detection process can safely and automatically shut down unauthorized access points and clients, while nearly eliminating the risk of illegally interfering with neighboring wireless networks.
 
In addition to automatically detecting and disabling rogue wireless devices and attacks, WatchGuard’s industry-leading WIPS also provides customers with:
 

• Secure Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy Enforcement – automatically identifies on-network smart devices and blocks unapproved connections.
• Accurate Location Tracking – pinpoints the location of connected wireless devices or sources of interference, enabling administrators to quickly take action.
• Flexible Deployment – deployable in configurations to meet any security need. It can be installed as an overlay on top of an existing WLAN infrastructure or as a stand-alone enforcement system for WiFi prohibited zones.

 

Together, WatchGuard’s patented WIPS technology and the company’s network security services provide a complete and effective solution for securing WiFi. Customers can easily and cost effectively run all of their wireless network traffic through one of WatchGuard's network security appliances, thereby providing the same AV, IPS, web filtering, spam blocking, application control, APT blocking, data loss prevention, and reputation lookup techniques to wireless traffic. This protects them against malware planting, eavesdropping and data theft, and prevents inappropriate or illegal use of their network.
 
The WiFi Cloud also provides visibility into a goldmine of marketing data, including insights into footfall and customer demographics visualized on customizable dashboards. Organizations can easily monetize these insights by tapping into the mobile engagement features, which allow direct and customized communication with individual customers in the form of SMS, MMS, and their social network of choice. WatchGuard WiFi Cloud management features also include:

 

• Custom Splash Pages and Social WiFi Engagement – captive portals allow businesses to personalize customer WiFi experiences by offering promotional opportunities, surveys, and strong authentication through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social applications.
• Mobile Engagement – delivers custom messages to customers via SMS, MMS, and social networks, based on predefined triggers including user interaction and length of time on-network.
• WiFi Analytics - data is collected via passive scans, active scans and user connections in and around your Wi-Fi networks. Analyzes and conceptualizes this data to provide insight into traffic patterns, behavior, and demographics of your Wi-Fi users, in addition to generating a visual map of foot traffic patterns on a floor plan.