Private WiFi Router @ Work

exactly
Daruk said:
Just that - you have WiFi at home. Why would I assume that you're on 3G or LTE because you have WiFi at home?
Almost everyone who has Fiber or ADSL has WiFi at home.
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Exactly. it is because the general term for Internet at home has become WiFi. I actually hate it that people nowdays call internet WiFi... well most people are very uneducated.
 
Daruk said:
I don't know what wifi modem you use so I can't be specific here, but you can connect a work PC to it to bypass office internet monitoring and policy and deliberately or unintentionally leak company IP.
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It is a very old Huawei mobile WiFi modem with a Telkom 3G sim in it that gets connected to my phone. My work laptop has it's own Vodacom 3G sim in it for use when I am not at the office so it never gets connected to my mobile WiFi moden nor even my home WiFi network.
 
make
geezer said:
I also make use of a WiFi modem at work. I have a very small data package on my cellphone, but have a 10GB anytime data package at Telkom on a Huawei E5573 mobile router that I pay R139 p/m. That is SIGNIFICANTLY less than the Vodacom's R150 for a 1GB.
I connect to my own WiFi the moment I walk into my office and that data is used whenever I receive WhatsApp messages, e-mails and the occasional Google searches. That way I can spare the data on my phone for whenever I am away from my mobile data device.
My phone is also voice over wifi enabled, and helps a lot because where I am I often have extremely poor cellphone reception.
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makes sense :-)
 
Daruk said:
1) Not sure how that's relevant
3) WiFi is not 3G or LTE - he never mentioned either. I'm talking from experience here, I've personally seen people bringing their routers / access points into offices to be able to connect mobile devices to the company LAN to access the internet. There's also nothing stopping you from bypassing company endpoint protection and putting company PCs at risk by connecting them via your router.
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1) OP has already said he isn't talking about 3G. So yes I get that, see point 3.
3) You haven't answered my previous post which relates to this:
So when someone says "I've got WiFi at home", what the first thing which springs to mind?
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Neuk_ said:
It is a very old Huawei mobile WiFi modem with a Telkom 3G sim in it that gets connected to my phone. My work laptop has it's own Vodacom 3G sim in it for use when I am not at the office so it never gets connected to my mobile WiFi moden nor even my home WiFi network.
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There's nothing wrong with that. It's a personal device/accessory.
 
This thread is all over the place. If the OP is referring to a private wifi access point that he's connecting to the corporate network upstream either via LAN or Wifi (as a repeater) then this would be a problem. If the OP is referring to a wifi access point that uses it's own LTE or 3G or other mobile connectivity which is independent of the corporate network upstream then it shouldn't be a problem unless people are using this device to bypass company policy on company owned clients.
 
Daruk said:
OK, so their cybersecurity concern is fairly low. Note, not their risk, but concern. Risk may indeed be low. It's possible they don't have too much of interest, don't know. My experience though is that most companies underestimate the risk... until a breach of course.
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Why do you say this?
 
NeonNinja said:
There's nothing wrong with that. It's a personal device/accessory.
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I hope so, we are allowed to connect our personal devices such as phones and pads to our work network but in a limited fashion, so I just use my mobile WiFi modem for my phone while my work laptop is connected to the work network either via LAN cable, WiFi or APN through it's Vodacom 3G sim.
 
Daruk said:
Are you kidding???
It's a massive security risk for any company when employees do this.
The company has NO control of the security on your wifi point and you could effectively be opening their network to the street.
How can you not see this?

Companies that know their stuff also block USB port access on their PCs. Does your company do that?
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Ran mine in isolated *nix environment... Oh wait plebs/[l]users
 
Daruk said:
He actually is talking about 3G - it's an LTE router he has.
I did answer your question:
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Sorry #14 said he wasn't talking about mobile data so, left it at that.

Ok sorry missed that. My point was if someone (non technical) says they have WiFi (at home) = almost always "they have Internet", so when OP said he "Private WiFi" in title I assumed "LTE/3G router".
 
Daruk said:
What massive generalisations am I making?
If I were to make an assumption, it would be that you don't have much in the way of cybersecurity policy other than maybe a box checking exercise - or perhaps you outsource IT support?
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You generalise my employer's cybersecurity concern/risk/level based on a single employee without any other information. I will try answer your questions of this and other posts, I am not an IT expert by any stretch of the imagination nor do I believe that we have 100% reliable cybersecurity. I am part of a small team (four) sitting at head office as part of the larger IMS section, who has admin rights to their work laptop but in general no-one has admin rights except for technical IT support staff. The majority of employee's don't have work laptops, some might have a desktop but most have what we call 'toasters' that allow them access to Citrix and from there the IT tools they require, whether it be email, Office, ERP, etc, etc. As I side work laptop users in general have no admin rights and initial setup is done by technical IT support staff with updates pushed down to laptops and desktops. Any changes such as new software installs have to be done by technical support staff if the software is run locally on a work laptop, otherwise there is an authorisation process for access via Citrix. In general, employee's are only given what they require in terms of software and access rights, internet access is heavily controlled and monitored.

That is my very basic understanding but there is a lot more to our network as we have remote sites, barcoding systems, manufacturing line monitoring systems, integration with banks, integration with suppliers and customers, etc, etc.
 
YungKwality said:
I

No its not mobile data. my argument is that if they block me from using my private router to work they might as well block me from bringing my cell-phone to work as it could also pose a "security risk"
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Please go make that argument, so that all phones are blocked/banned as well.

On a more serious note, nothing is stopping you from connecting your device to the LAN Network, should your data run out or reception on you 3G SIM not be good enough, thus creating a massive security hole in the network.

Just imagine the possibilities/speed if you connect two physical cables to your router, instead of one wireless connection, double the cable speed in internet, all for your phone alone < - - - PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS, I AM MERELY MAKING A POINT HERE (if you do not see the problem with this setup, my point is made, so please do not test this for yourself).

Lastly (and this is less of an issue in most companies, but still as valid), WiFi airspace is rather limited and extremely congested, especially 2.4GHz. Bringing your own device to work, most likely will cause interference for your company's infrastructure, infrastructure often hidden from end-user's view. I have had countless issues, where poor network performance was caused by someone's tethering actions nearby.

Respect your company and fellow employees and abide by the rules in this regard, it is there for a reason. If it bothers you so much, rather put in a formal request to your HR for a guest network in your current work environment.
 
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