WBE758 onboarding Engage - Give us the ability to hide/not broadcast SSIDs

Useless feature, the "hidden" or *disables" SSID broadcast does not -add- any security. In fact its making the security even worse. On one hand, any wireless client with configured to associate to that SSID will shout out the name loud to the air - matter of fact to -any- Wi-Fi with the magic hidden SSID. On the other hand, each wireless connection established and active will shout out that hidden SSID with every wireless frame exchanged.

The only "advantage" there is it might shorten the list of wireless SSIDs obviously visible to every end user.

Rarely referring to Apple, but here I do: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102766 -> Hidden Network

A router can be configured to hide its network name (SSID). Your router might incorrectly use “closed” to mean hidden, and “broadcast” to mean not hidden.

Hiding the network name doesn't conceal the network from detection or secure it against unauthorized access. And because of how devices search for and connect to Wi-Fi networks, using a hidden network might expose information that can be used to identify you and the hidden networks you use, such as your home network. When connected to a hidden network, your device might show a privacy warning because of this privacy risk.

To secure access to your network, use the appropriate security setting instead.

Amazing this nonsense of "not broadcasting" the SSID is still in the heads of some users "out of sight, out of mind" - after decades these standards were set....

Security by obscurity, but much worse. 

Thanks for your feedback and the Apple article reference. To clarify, my request to add SSID hiding in Netgear Engage is not about security it is for control networks used solely by our engineering team in a controlled environment. Hiding these SSIDs helps reduce clutter and confusion in a busy Wi-Fi space, not to serve as a security measure. Adding this feature would streamline network management for specialized use cases like ours.

Reading your argumentation tastes must like compliance "shopping" to me. Taking non-mitigatable risks is hardly get approved by a serious IT Security. 

Putting a simple AP up with SSID broadcast disabled, some simple software for wireless data capturing - and your non-existing "advantage" is from the table. Defining a neutral SSID name is always preferred over trying to make something invisible, not adding any value. Especially not for an engineering and development network, where reasonable values for businesses, the base for economics, are generated.

We could dispute why Netgear Insight does allow disabling an SSID broadcast, while Netgear Engage does not. I'm not Netgear, but you know my answer: I expect Netgear to remove the "disable Broadcast" from Insight, too. Reason: A tool like Netgear Engage -and- Netgear Insight (both intended for customers with limited Wi-Fi and networking knowledge) should, no -must- not promote such a risky feature. 

Now you have an idea from where I'm coming from,,,