Providing Wifi Access to Staff and Visitors

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aaristotle

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#187934 10-Dec-2015 12:15

I am investigating installing a couple of ADSL lines with unlimited plans to provide wifi access to staff and visitors, for personal use. The wifi would be open access and unmonitored.
Apart from the possibility of receiving a Copyright infringement notice due to a errant user, are there any other possible liability issues that I should be aware of?

xpd

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#1447092 10-Dec-2015 12:42

Malicious use could come back to you - ie: hacking/attacking etc

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michaelmurfy

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#1447101 10-Dec-2015 12:54

I would recommend setting aside a budget and ensuring you provide a system that is secure for your customers (and also yourself).

1) Get a firewall with Layer 7 filtering. I'd personally recommend investing in a Meraki router or Meraki access points.
2) Set up your WiFi with client isolation.
3) Block (via L7 filtering) services like Bittorrent, block all outbound ports except essential ones (Allow HTTP + HTTPS, block the rest)
4) Set up URL filtering - for this I would recommend OpenDNS w/ a firewall rule to direct all DNS traffic back to OpenDNS for filtering. This will ensure people can't override it.

All of this can also be done with a (cheaper) Edgerouter Lite + some UniFi access points. The Edgerouter supports Dual WAN balancing also meaning you can have multiple connections all running through the same router and load balance them. The Edgerouter is a steep learning curve and would only recommend it if you've either got an IT company proficient in setting one of these up otherwise if you want something basic to manage but secure invest in some Meraki gear.

Depending on how many people connect:
10 people - a Meraki Z1 Teleworker.
10+ people - a Meraki MX64

Pair this with some UniFi access points and you've got a winning combo. I'd strongly recommend against offering public WiFi without some form of security for both them and yourself.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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lxsw20

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#1447137 10-Dec-2015 13:56

I did this with a VDSL connection/pfsense/ubiquity APs. No need for a ADSL link per network, unless speed is the issue rather than segregation.

MadEngineer

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#1447150 10-Dec-2015 14:15

Have done this with mikrotik which provides many methods. Didn't require seperate wan connections.

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michaelmurfy

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#1447206 10-Dec-2015 15:05

I've also done this with PFSense and Mikrotik but none of those solutions offers the same level of reporting and control like the Meraki products.

I have a Meraki access point laying around if anyone wants to try one out?

xpd

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#1447223 10-Dec-2015 15:18

michaelmurfy: I've also done this with PFSense and Mikrotik but none of those solutions offers the same level of reporting and control like the Meraki products.

I have a Meraki access point laying around if anyone wants to try one out?

They still give them out for free for attending webinars ? :D

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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aaristotle

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#1447244 10-Dec-2015 15:40

Thanks for the replies.
I should have mentioned this solution will hopefully only be in place for 6 months or so, before a fully managed corporate global network is rolled out across the site.
The network will include fully managed wifi with separate corporate/customer/personal staff use segments with full user access monitoring and control.

The ADSL will be to separate buildings, and is the only user grade Internet available in the area, that can be connected on a no contract basis.

HR are after an early win in the staff benefits area, so I am looking at a simple cheap solution, but wanted to make sure apart from the copyright infringement issue there aren't any other pitfalls.

xpd mentioned hacking being detected originating from the connection, however I assume if someone caused criminal damage hacking into an IT system the connection owner couldn't be held liable, in the same way McDonalds wouldn't be liable if someone was using their free wifi to do the same thing?

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MadEngineer

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#1448302 10-Dec-2015 17:38

pro tip: don't have their mail traffic traversing the same that your business traffic does. i suggest for example dst-natting smtp elsewhere so if someone uses the connection for spam and your isp is forced to shut :25 down your business mail will continue to work.

under the new laws, mcdonalds for example would be liable for copyright http://3strikes.net.nz/information/faqs where they'd have to challenge it in court if necessary (but i'd say unlikely to occur)

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michaelmurfy

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#1448307 10-Dec-2015 17:45

MadEngineer: pro tip: don't have their mail traffic traversing the same that your business traffic does. i suggest for example dst-natting smtp elsewhere so if someone uses the connection for spam and your isp is forced to shut :25 down your business mail will continue to work.

under the new laws, mcdonalds for example would be liable for copyright http://3strikes.net.nz/information/faqs where they'd have to challenge it in court if necessary (but i'd say unlikely to occur)

I'm sure people can't do anything with the 50mb McDonalds generously gives out. If the connection is only for Staff you could get away with lets say a UniFi access point plugged into a standard router w/ network isolation enabled. Personally I'd block SMTP email too.