Company Updates

Achieve Zero Blind Spots with Versa’s Complete Branch Security that Protects Guest Wi-Fi and Beyond 

Branches are surging back in prominence as hubs for users, applications, and a rapidly expanding IoT ecosystem. In this new branch paradigm, Guest Wi-Fi is no longer a convenience. It’s a non-negotiable requirement across retail, healthcare, hospitality, financial services, and much more. Unfortunately, this shift introduces a new mix of unpredictable user behavior, diverse applications, and thousands of devices to the branch infrastructure. This dramatically increases bandwidth demands and expands the attack surface where guest devices can bring malicious files, launch DNS-based threats, enable data exfiltration, or open compliance and privacy gaps. Industry research shows 70% of performance degradation and 60% of breaches at the branches now originate from Guest networks. As branches evolve, securing Guest Wi-Fi and the broader access layer is always longer optional but crucial.

The Weakest Link in Your Branch Security – Guest Wi-Fi 

Let’s analyze the unknowns in security, network bandwidth and tool sprawl a guest Wi-Fi can introduce into your infrastructure.   

1. A rapidly expanding attack surface with unknown devices 

Guest smartphones, tablets, laptops, and IoT wearables connecting to branch Wi-Fi introduce hundreds of unknown device types into your environment. These devices often have unknown operating systems, vulnerabilities and malicious that create entry points for attackers. As a result, threat actors are increasingly exploiting guest networks to launch DNS tunneling, MAC spoofing, man-in-the-middle attacks, and lateral probing. In the absence of strong security controls, micro-segmentation, a single compromised device can expose internal IP addresses, intercept unencrypted traffic, or allow data infiltration. 

2. Performance degradation and compliance exposure 

Traffic from Guest Wi-Fi, including streaming apps, social media, and personal cloud backups compete with business-critical applications for bandwidth.  Without right prioritization and intelligent traffic steering, guest traffic causes delays and packet loss, degrading user experience for voice, video, Point of Sale (POS), and SaaS apps. Additionally, guest network segmented with traditional VLANs can violate PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOX, or GDPR requirements, since sensitive business systems must be isolated from untrusted users. The lack of URL filtering, DNS security, and application controls on guest Wi-Fi further increases the risk of malware infections or inappropriate data access, creating liability, audit failures, and potential fines. 

3. Tool sprawl, manual workflows & dangerous visibility gaps 

Most branches still bolt on guest Wi-Fi using separate access points, firewalls, VLANs and controllers. This fragmented approach leads to inconsistent security rules, complex configurations, blind spots in lateral movement and poor incident correlation. As a result, IT teams must switch across multiple consoles for SD-WAN, firewall, Wi-Fi controller when troubleshooting guest traffic issues or security events, slowing detection and resolution cycles. This in turn creates security breaches and misconfigurations that expose guest networks and the core business to more threats. 

The Right Approach to Address your Weakest Link 

With these challenges in mind, the right SD-WAN solution must deliver built-in security to ensure guest Wi-Fi is isolated, inspected, and prioritized from day one. This means enforcing strong micro-segmentation and granular NGFW controls like URL filtering, DNS security, Advanced Threat Prevention and IoT security. It must also provide application-aware traffic prioritization to prevent guest usage from degrading business apps and deliver single-pane observability so IT teams can monitor, troubleshoot, and enforce policy easily.  

Versa’s Secure SD-WAN with Integrated NGFW  

Versa solves guest Wi-Fi security and branch connectivity with an SD-WAN solution with integrated NGFW that has been highly rated by CyberRatings in 2025 to deliver: 

1. Security that is built-in and not bolt-on 

Application, user, and device identification to accurately classify traffic flows from employees, IoT devices, or guest Wi-Fi. This context empowers Versa to enforce the right security policies, and deliver real Zero Trust protection with capabilities including 

DNS security – DNS-level threat detection and filtering, blocking malicious domains, command-and-control callbacks, and DNS tunneling attempts commonly launched from unmanaged guest devices. By enforcing real-time DNS inspection across both guest Wi-Fi and branch traffic, Versa prevents infections, data exfiltration, and lateral movement before they ever reach the network. 

URL filtering – Granular URL filtering to block access to risky, malicious, or inappropriate websites that guest users and unmanaged devices often attempt to reach. By enforcing categorized web controls across both guest Wi-Fi and branch traffic, it prevents malware downloads, phishing attempts, and compliance violations before they impact the business network. 

Advanced Threat Prevention – Advanced threat prevention, including IPS, malware detection, sandboxing, and behavioral analysis to inspect guest and branch traffic in real time and stop threats before they spread. By blocking exploits, zero-days, and malicious payloads at the point of entry, it prevents compromised guest devices from becoming a launchpad for attacks inside the branch. 

Data Leak Protection – Data loss protection to inspect traffic for sensitive information such as PCI, HIPAA, or PII data and prevents it from leaving the network, when attempted from guest Wi-Fi. By blocking unauthorized uploads, masked channels, and risky file transfers, Versa ensures that untrusted guest devices cannot exfiltrate, intercept, or misuse business data, keeping the entire branch compliant and protected. 

See how Versa delivers integrated security with SD-WAN 

2. Versa Microsegmentation Secures Every User and Every Device 

Versa Secure SD-LAN uses adaptive microsegmentation that eliminates issues of traditional VLAN macrosegmentation. It dynamically isolates guest Wi-Fi, IoT, and corporate users based on identity, device type, and application behavior. Unlike traditional VLANs that can still allow lateral movement and misconfigurations, Versa enforces granular security policies that prevent guest devices from accessing sensitive branch resources. 

See how Versa delivers Microsegmentation to protect branches 

3. Application assurance for best user experience  

Versa delivers exceptional application experience and reduces Mean Time to Resolution by providing traffic intelligence on any WAN links, including MPLS, broadband, 5G and satellite along with application assurance based on network and application SLAS. Additionally, it provides hierarchical QoS to prioritize business and guest traffic and dynamically enables WAN optimization like FEC and packet duplication to ensure better bandwidth utilization and performance 

See how Versa monitors network and application performance.   

4. Unified platform with single appliance, management and visibility 

Versa integrates SD-WAN, NGFW, segmentation, and full-stack observability in a single OS and console. This consolidation cuts tool-sprawl accelerates troubleshooting and strengthens Zero-Trust enforcement from day one. With built-in Digital Experience Management (DEM), IT teams can now monitor, troubleshoot and root cause network and security issues easily and resolve issues faster.  

See how Versa simplifies monitoring and troubleshooting with DEM 

In modern branches, guest Wi-Fi isn’t optional, it’s expected. But with unmanaged devices and separate firewalls, it quickly becomes a drag on performance, cost and security. Versa’s unified SD-WAN appliance with built-in NGFW turns that around by securing guest access, enforce Zero Trust and prevent tool sprawl without sacrificing experience. The era of choosing between great guest Wi-Fi or strong branch security is over with Versa Secure SD-WAN