How do I use Shield to secure my network?

Updated 04 May 2023 18:17

The Shield feature of the Cogeco Business Wi-Fi app offers several ways to protect your network and those connected to it from malicious websites and inappropriate content.

This article covers the following topics:

Shield overview
Online protection
Managing security events
IoT protection
Adblocking
Content access

Shield overview

From the Home screen, the Shield widget gives you a quick view of the security of your network.

Select the Shield tab and Digital Security from the bottom of the screen for a more detailed view.

Online protection

Online protection uses a constantly updated database to block websites known to contain:

Malware and botnets
Phishing and fraud attempts
Spyware and adware
Spam URLs
Keyloggers and monitoring
Proxy avoidance
Anonymizers

Online protection also protects devices from connecting to harmful IP addresses, and blocks incoming device connections from known harmful IP addresses.

To enable or disable Online protection for your entire network:

Select Settings from the Home screen.
Select Online protection.
Select the toggle switch to turn the feature on or off.

To enable or disable online protection for a specific employee:

Select the Devices tab from the bottom of the screen.
Select the Employee zone.
Select the desired employee.
Select the options icon (3 dots at the top right).
Select Edit profile.
Select Online protection.
Select the toggle switch to turn the feature on or off.

To enable or disable Online protection for a specific device:

Select the Devices tab from the bottom of the screen.
Select the Employee zone.
Select the desired device.
Select the options icon (3 dots at the top right).
Select Device settings.
Select Online protection.
Select the toggle switch to turn the feature on or off.

Note: This option is only available for a device if it hasn’t been assigned to a user. Assigned devices will all share the access settings for their assigned employee’s profile.

To approve or block specific websites or IP addresses:

Select the Shield tab and Digital security from the bottom of the Home screen.
Select a specific user or select All.
Select the Approved or Blocked tab.
Select Approve/Block.
Select Website or IP Address.
Enter the URL or IP address you wish to approve or block.
Select Approve/Block.

Note: After approving or blocking a website, it can take 30 to 60 minutes for the change to take effect (the time may vary for different devices on your network).

Managing security events

The Shield tab also displays a graph and list of security events that have taken place over the last 30 days. Tap the graph to highlight a specific date, tap an employee profile to filter events by person, or tap an event type to filter by type.

Tap a specific event to approve it for the user who was blocked, or for everyone.

Advanced IoT protection

IoT (Internet of Things) protection studies device behaviour to block actions that may be suspicious to protect your network. For example, if a device normally only accesses certain domains but is now trying to access a domain that was previously unknown, it would be quarantined and a notification would be sent to the user. While in quarantine, the device will still have Internet access, but will not have local access so it can’t infect other local network devices.

To view quarantined devices so they can be tested and unquarantined, if appropriate:

Open the Devices tab.
Select the device under Quarantined devices.
From here, you can view more detail on the suspicious activity and take appropriate action.

Adblocking

Adblocking blocks known advertising servers, but the websites themselves will continue to be displayed without certain ads.

Just like Online protection, this can be enabled for your entire network from the Settings menu, or for an individual employee or device through the Employee zone.

Content access

Content access prevents users from visiting sites that may not be appropriate in the workplace.

Just like Online protection, this can be enabled for your entire network from the Settings menu, or for an individual employee or device through the Employee zone. Individual websites and IP addresses can also be approved or blocked through Shield.