Source: Phil Bowers, Senior Marketing Manager, June 19, 2017, www.grandstream.com

According to Kasperksy, approximately 24.7% of Wi-Fi hotspots in the world do not use any encryption at all, and that does not even include the Wi-Fi networks that are under-secured. Being that a Wi-Fi attack can occur in only 2 seconds, Grandstream has set out to create their GWN series of Wi-Fi Access Points to solve many Wi-Fi security problems by building a variety of high-end security protections into the GWN series.

1) Unique security certificate per AP

Every GWN series Access Point has a unique security certificate built in to encrypt the data and traffic going back and forth between the AP, the controller and the controller’s web user interface. As you probably know by now, the controller for any GWN series AP can be any other GWN series AP or Router. This encryption protects the traffic from being hacked or intercepted as it shares between the AP and the controller. Most other manufacturers use the same security certificate on all or most of their APs, which allows anyone who may be able to hack into one AP to hack into all of those manufacturers’ APs.  But Grandstream makes it impossible to hack into any AP by building a completely unique security certificate into each GWN series access point.

2) Random default password per AP

Most manufacturers use the same default Wi-Fi password across all of their APs. Therefore, if you know the default password for one of that manufactures’ APs, you know the default password for every network and every AP they sell. Anyone with malicious intent can use this default password knowledge to hack into any network being broadcasted by the same brand of APs anywhere in the world. Grandstream builds a completely random default Wi-Fi password onto every single GWN series unit, which is printed on the back of the unit itself. As a result, GWN series networks are more secure and you are able to get networks up and running faster by not having to worry about initial passwords right away.

3) Anti-Hacking security/ Critical Data and Control Lockdown

Firmware is one of the most critical elements of your access point and your Wi-Fi network. It is the backbone of your network as it controls and manages your network and runs access points. If someone is able to hack into your APs and access or change the firmware, they can completely take over your network.

The GWN series is built to protect this firmware by building digital signatures into each layer of the firmware. If the firmware is tampered with in any way, the digital signature for that portion of the firmware will fail the verification upon re-boot or firmware upgrade, and the system will block any changes to it and prevent illegally modified firmware from being installed. In addition, the firmware file is encrypted so that hackers cannot find out what is in the firmware and what is running on the device to try to reverse engineer the firmware itself.