It’s hard to believe that 2025 is now over and we are at the start of a new year – we hope 2026 brings you and your loved ones plenty of joy. To get the new year off to a good start, in this edition we take a look at securing guest Wi-Fi networks and how to recycle your old electricals.
Zero Trust guest Wi-Fi network
Guest Wi-Fi is extremely useful for visitors and contractors alike, however it can be a risk to your network if you have a single shared password that is never updated. Should one of your guests’ devices be compromised, it can readily become an attack gateway for your whole business. A Zero Trust approach – never trust, always verify – builds in security by preventing automatic trust to improve control. The first step to achieving this is a totally isolated guest network that never mixes with your business traffic – achieved through strict network segmentation via a dedicated Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) for guests. Then your firewall needs to be configured to block all communication attempts from the guest VLAN to your primary corporate VLAN. Next replace a static password with a professional captive portal that serves as the front door to your Zero Trust guest Wi-Fi. You can also consider a OTP sent via SMS to strengthen security further. Whichever route you choose, the aim is to “never trust” to avoid anonymous connections. Network access control (NAC) can enforce these policies to check devices before they are allowed to join and strict access times, for example 12 hours, before re-authentication is allowed improves control.
Electricals recycling
Christmas time often means electricals gifts whether a new phone, iPad or gaming gadget. Whilst it’s great to have the new shiny devices, what about your old redundant ones? The tendency is to stick them in a drawer and forget about them bit that isn’t very good for the planet and you could be missing out on money or other benefits. Hypnocat is still around and ready to help you recycle your unwanted electrical items – search by your postcode and you will find all the drop off points (shops, petrol stations etc) near you. Otherwise there are plenty of other ways to recycle electrical goods, for example Currys has a recycling scheme (including batteries) where you can receive money-off vouchers and there is a plethora of companies where you can recycle old phones including Compare and Recycle. Once you have decided which recycling route you wish to use, just make sure that you wipe all personal data from your old device!
