Wi-fi Security Controls: features and settings

What is the groups feature?

The groups feature allows you to set Wi-fi Security Controls for groups of devices on your network. Devices must be assigned to a group before any rules can be applied to them.

What is the default profile group?

The default profile is a group which any unassigned devices are assigned to.

An unassigned device is a device which is connected to your network, but has not been added to a group that you’ve created.

If you’re using Wi-fi Security Controls for the first time, you’ll find that:

• Any unassigned devices will be found in the default profile group.
• You can only apply a content filter to the default profile name card.

If you want to have different security controls in place for different devices, creating your own groups is a good way to manage this.

How to create a group

1. From your app’s home screen, tap Manage your networks, tap on one of your connections, then tap Wi-fi Security. You can turn Wi-fi Security Controls on using the toggle if you haven’t already.
2. Then, tap the purple Create new group button.
3. Give your new group a name, then tap Continue.
4. Next, select the devices you want in the group from the unassigned devices list and tap Continue, or tap Create an empty group if you’d rather create a group without any devices for now.
5. Now, you’ll be able to review the details of the group based on what you’ve selected. If you’re happy, tap Create group.
6. Your new group will now be available in the Wi-fi Security Controls dashboard, where you can tap on it to set up your controls.

The group dashboard

You can access the group dashboard from the Wi-fi Security Controls dashboard. To do this:

1. Tap on the group you want to view in the Groups section. If you have more than three groups, you can also tap View all and then tap the group you want to view.
2. You will now be taken to the group dashboard for that group.

In the group dashboard, you can check:

• What content filter has been applied to that specific group.
• What block access schedules are in place.
• What devices you have in that specific group – you can find out more about managing your devices in the next section of this guide.

The group dashboard is also the main place you can set up all the different Wi-fi Security Control features from.

What can I do from the group dashboard?

Rename a group

To do this:

1. From the group dashboard, tap Rename in the top right corner.
2. Enter the new name, and tap Rename group when you’re done.

Delete a group

To do this:

1. From the group dashboard, tap Delete this group.
2. You’ll then be asked to confirm you’re sure you want to delete it. If you’re sure, tap Ok.

All of the devices that were in the deleted group will now be found in the default profile.

Block access to the network

You can block access to the network for devices in a particular group, at specific times and on specific dates that suit you.

To do this:

1. From the group dashboard, tap Block access to network.
2. Select the Scheduled access option.
3. Then, tap Create a new custom schedule.
4. Next, name your schedule, and tap Continue.
5. Now, select the times and days you want the network access to be blocked for that group, then tap Continue.

You can rename, change, or delete the custom schedule at any time.

Block access to network now

If you suddenly need to block access to the network for devices in a particular group, you can do this using the Block access to network now feature.

To do this:

1. From the group dashboard, tap Block access to network now.
2. Select either the 1 hour, 2 hours, or Until morning option. Or, select Customise if you want to the network to be blocked until a specific time.
3. If you select the Customise option, you’ll need to input the time, and tap Confirm.
4. You’ll then be told the time the network access will resume. Tap Undo if you need to make a change, or Finish if everything’s ok.

Set up a content filter

You can use content filters to block network users from accessing certain categories of websites that could be considered harmful or inappropriate. You can set up a content filter for each of your groups.

As well as setting up a custom content filter, you can also choose from three preset content filters: light, moderate, and strict.

If you choose the light filter, websites associated with things like drugs, hate & self harm, and alcohol & tobacco will be blocked, but things like gambling, media streaming, and games won’t be. If you choose the moderate filter, more website categories will be blocked. And if you choose the strict filter, all potentially harmful or inappropriate website categories will be blocked.

To set up a content filter:

1. From the group dashboard, tap Content filter.
2. Then, tap the Content filter toggle.
3. Now, you’ll be able to choose between the three preset filters, or the custom filter. If you choose a preset filter, you’ve also got the option to add more categories to it.
4. Once you’ve chosen one, tap Filter content.
5. Here, you can select whether you want to have the filter on at all times, or just at certain times. Once you’ve done this, tap Update content filter schedule.

Block a website

You can also block network users from accessing specific websites. You can set up website blocks for each of your groups.

To do this:

1. From the group’s dashboard, tap Block a website.
2. Enter the website URL in the website address field, for example www.youtube.com.
3. Then, tap Block.

To remove any blocked websites:

1. Tap Block a website from the group dashboard.
2. Find your list of blocked websites.
3. Tap the bin icon next to the one you want to remove.

View detected and blocked threats

From the group dashboard, you can also view how many threats and browsing threats have been detected and blocked by us that day.

• Threats could be things like access attempts from unrecognised devices or IP addresses.
• Browsing threats are websites that devices in your group have attempted to access.

If there are any, you’ll find these near the bottom of the group dashboard.

When you tap View all, you’ll also be able to view any threats that have been detected and blocked over the past 7 and 30 days.

If you want to ignore threats that we’ve blocked

You also have the option to ignore any threats you do not think need to be blocked.

To do this:

1. Tap on the threat to read more information about the threat.
2. Tap Ignore if you want to restore access to it. 

You can check on all the devices on your network in two places:

• The Wi-fi Security Controls dashboard.
• The group dashboard for each group, which you can access from the Wi-fi Security Controls dashboard.

Any devices you’ve not added to a group yourself will be found in the default profile group.

How to add a device to a group

1. From the group dashboard, tap Add device at the bottom of the Devices section.
2. Select an unassigned device you’d like to add to a group, or search for one and then select it. Then, tap Add device to a group.
3. Next, select the group you’d like to add the device to.
4. Tap Add device. You will then see confirmation that your device has been added.

What you can do when you view all your devices

When you tap View all in the Devices section from either the Wi-fi Security Controls dashboard or the group dashboard, you can:

Search devices

You can search for devices by name, or filter by device type.

Check the status of your devices

You can check to see what devices are online or offline.

What you can do when you tap a specific device

When you tap a specific device from either the Wi-fi Security Controls dashboard or the group dashboard, you can do a few things:

View the device details

To do this:

1. Tap the device.
2. Tap Device details.

You’ll be able to view things like the device’s brand, operating system, IP addresses, and which network it’s connected to.

Forget the device

You can forget a device, which means it’ll be removed from your network. Please note, you can only forget devices that have an online status.

To do this:

1. Tap the device.
2. Then, tap Forget device.
3. You’ll then be asked to confirm you want to forget this device. If you’re sure, tap Forget device.

Once the device has been forgotten, you’ll need to reconnect it to the network to regain access.

Change group

You can move your device from one group to another.

To do this:

1. Tap the device.
2. Next, tap Change group.
3. Select the group you want to move it to.
4. Then, tap the Change group button.