Do multiple SSIDs provide additional security

networkingrouterssidsubnetwireless-networking

I am trying to learn more about home networking and have been experimenting with a Netgear Nighthawk R8000P Router. I noticed that it offers different SSIDs, and initial searches seemed to suggest that having connected devices spread out across multiple SSIDs was somehow "more secure" than having all devices under the same SSID. It also seems that this router does not support subnetting.

However, after doing some more digging in the admin settings of the router, it appears that the SSIDs actually correspond to different radio channels (specifically 2.4GHz 5GHz, with further a/n/ac, b/g/n, and "plain" variants), as echoed in this related question. This contradicts my original working theory that each SSID corresponded to its own subnet, which I understand could then be isolated from other subnets through firewall settings. This leaves me with the following questions:

  1. Could a device on SSID-1 send data to and get data from SSID-2, SSID-3, etc? This would include being able to monitor traffic on other SSIDs.
  2. Why do I have to re-authenticate when switching between SSIDs? Does this mean that they are in fact separate and therefore secure?
  3. What additional security (if any) is provided by having different SSIDs?

Note: I've seen the related question How do multiple SSIDs provide security?, but I feel that this is sufficiently different to merit its own question.

Best Answer

  1. On this device as you noted, there is not a unique subnet segregation per SSID, so all connected devices will exist on the same subnet

  2. each SSID has its own authentication, and changing between them requires that you provide the correct information to join the network. Once joined via the SSID however this does not provide any additional security measures

  3. multiple SSIDS is not a security feature, however it is beneficial for when you have older devices which may not be able to take advantage of newer 5Ghz frequencies. Eg: setups dedicated SSID for older 802.11b/g 2.4Ghz devices, and another for newer devices which can support 802.11ac at 5Ghz is the main use case

Related Question