LateralAccessDevice

LateralAccessDevice for Better Wi-Fi Security

Use Wi-Fi Wisely With LAD

When we depend on our wireless, we can't have it be our vulnerability. While it provides many benefits, particularly in terms of accessiblity, in its common incarnations Wi-Fi has several drawbacks, from over-accessibility and lack of visibility to susceptibility to DoS attacks.*

Wi-Fi also makes your computer susceptible to receiving unexpected and unwanted data, since it will be able to pick up any wireless signals, regardless of whether they originate from your router or someone else's device. Wi-Fi also makes it possible for someone else to also receive and see everything that you receive wirelessly on your computer. Unlike wired Ethernet, where someone has to physically patch into your cables, wireless signals saturate the airwaves and it is only distance that lessens their ability to be captured.

So how does LAD help?

In addition to improving connectivity, supporting 2.4Ghz and Wi-Fi 6E for both 5G and 6G, and providing network management features, LAD enhances Wi-Fi security.

• Most Wi-Fi routers recycle the same SSID/password combination for all clients, which begs the question, what happens if one of those client machines gets compromised? How would you be able to tell whether it was you, your smart fridge or somebody else who sent a large transmission to Timbuktu? A single login name and password for all clients is just not a good idea. LAD lets you utilize up to 100 different SSID/password combinations, meaning you can separate each wireless device from the other. It goes way beyond the concept of the "guest network."
• LAD gives you true network oversight, letting you see what each client is doing and has done, whether wired or wireless, with DNS logs, reports on network activity and packet capture data.
• LAD lets you individually schedule when each device is "On" or "Off," regardless of whether it is connected to LAD wirelessly or through a cable. What this means is you can set and enforce a schedule for when each device can or cannot connect to the Internet and for when it can or cannot connect to the network. This comes in handy if you want to cut down on the kids' midnight social media binges, but it also limits the time when your computers and other devices are potentially exposed to threats from the outside.
• Wi-Fi monitoring with reports and packet capture enhance your Wi-Fi visiblity.

WPA2 and WPA3 Support

LAD supports both WPA2 and WPA3 (personal) wireless encryption using the AES encryption algorithm.

LAD enhances WPA3, giving you the ability go beyond cookie-cutter security. Due to its unique design, LAD enables you to utilize multiple client passwords with one SSID, which is not possible with standard implementation of the WPA3 protocol. The advantage of this is that a compromise of one client's password won't require you to re-do the Wi-Fi access for all clients, rather, you would simply change the password for the affected client, while all the other clients hum along as if nothing happened.

The enhanced support for WPA3 is particularly important for clients using the 6Ghz band, as WPA3 is the only encryption method it allows. One of the differences between WPA2 and WPA3 is that while WPA2 allows multiple user passwords as a standard, in its standard implementation WPA3 does not. LAD's ability to provide WPA3 support for 6G clients with individual passwords increases both their security and manageability, since the compromise of one 6G client's password does not necessitate resetting of the password for all of the 6G clients.

Wi-Fi Packet Capture & Monitoring

LAD's Wi-Fi packet capture and monitoring features allow for packet capture and monitoring on up to three channels and on all three bands (2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz). Even better, you can conduct packet capture on one band or channel while using another for regular routing and connectivity purposes.

Wi-Fi monitoring is particularly useful against the persistent problem of shared channels (there are a lot of Wi-Fi users). In particular it makes the 2.4Ghz band usable again, if you can find a channel that is not polluted by your neighbors. The reports are also very useful, providing information about the specific MAC addresses that are active on a particular channel, making it possible for organizations to track unauthorized devices as they pop in and out of the network and head off someone trying to sneak into their network before they succeed.

And Increased Wi-Fi performance, too

In addition to the security and management benefits mentioned above, LAD boosts Wi-Fi performance by constantly fine-tuning the strength of the signal based on how far you are from the antenna. LAD also supports the concurrent use of different styles of antennas, meaning you could have one long-range antenna paired with one short-range antenna for increased range and mobility. LAD tracks each client device individually. It will automatically detect if you move closer or further away and switch which antenna your transmissions transmit through as you move around so that you get the best reception at any given time, no matter where you are.

With LAD you get the benefits of Wi-Fi plus additional features and options that we feel should have been part of the wireless protocol from the get-go. It's what you have been missing, and with LAD you can have it and use it, too.

Use Wi-Fi wisely with LAD.

LAD's Features

• Wi-Fi for 2.4Ghz, 5G and 6G: Full support of the latest Wi-Fi 6E for both 5G and 6G wi-fi networks plus the mainstay 2.4Ghz band lets you connect, protect and manage a wide range of Wi-Fi clients [read more].
• Lateral Firewall: Thousands of sophisticated rules let you control specifically what is allowed and what is not allowed, down to as granular a level as you like, with device-specific, date-specific and time-specific variability [read more].
• Date & Time Scheduling: Want your computer to disconnect at the end of the day, when you do? LAD's scheduling features let you cut off Internet access partially or fully on a schedule of your choosing [read more].
• LateralDNS: Simplify and streamline the blocking of unwanted online content and services using domain names for consistent and reliable results [read more].
• Packet Capture: LAD's packet capture feature lets you capture as much or as little of the Internet and network traffic as you like. This information comes in handy should a network incident require investigation [read more].
• NAT: Network address translation obscures private/internal IP addresses from the public internet, so that only the Internet-facing IP address is used for communications leaving the private/internal network.
• DNS: LAD's DNS services monitor and control domain name resolution with no intermediaries, making you impervious to DNS-based exploits and vulnerabilities [read more].
• Switching & Routing: LAD provides switching and routing services, meaning you can plug all of your devices directly into your LAD without an intervening switch or router.
• Local Access Control: Locally you can limit which devices on the network can talk to each other and with the Internet, as well as specify the types of communications allowed [read more].
• Automatic Activity Report: LAD generates reports every eight hours, giving you an overview of your network traffic, plus individual graphs on bandwidth usage for each device on your network.
• LateralTime: Use LAD's LateralTime feature to sychronize the devices on your network to the same time.
• Network Management & Monitoring: LAD provides a number of tools for network management and troubleshooting, including ping monitors, Wi-Fi monitoring, LAN and WAN activity monitoring, new device detection and individual client management.

*These DoS attacks may not even originate from another computer. For example, some of the bands that Wi-Fi uses are shared with things like cordless phones and microwaves, which can make heating up your cup o' noodles while downloading a large file counterproductive, depending on the wireless band in use.

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