CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 1909 Benchmark

18.5.23.2 WLANSettings

This setting contains recommendations for WLAN Settings.

This Group Policy section is provided by the Group Policy template wlansvc.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 10 Release 1511 Administrative Templates (or newer). 18.5.23.2.1 (L1) Ensure 'AllowWindows to automatically connect to suggested open hotspots, to networks shared by contacts, and to hotspots offering paid services' is set to 'Disabled' (Scored)

ProfileApplicability:

 Level 1 (L1) - Corporate/Enterprise Environment (general use)

Description:

This policy setting determines whether users can enable the following WLAN settings: "Connect to suggested open hotspots," "Connect to networks shared by my contacts," and "Enable paid services".  "Connect to suggested open hotspots" enables Windows to automatically connect users to open hotspots it knows about by crowdsourcing networks that other people using Windows have connected to.  "Connect to networks shared by my contacts" enables Windows to automatically connect to networks that the user's contacts have shared with them, and enables users on this device to share networks with their contacts.  "Enable paid services" enables Windows to temporarily connect to open hotspots to determine if paid services are available.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled .

Note: These features are also known by the name " Wi-Fi Sense ".

Rationale:

Automatically connecting to an open hotspot or network can introduce the system to a rogue network with malicious intent.

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