[unisog] Open access wireless service

[Hammond, Stanley]

>1. Does your university provide an open access Wifi system for guests
on campus?

Yes, in a way.  We have a wireless system that is open for both students
and guests.  

>2. If so, does it have encryption of any kind setup?

Currently no.  We are looking into ways to implement security (WPA) on
this network to restrict who can access it.  As I mentioned above the
system is open, so anybody can come onto the campus or sit in their car
in the parking lot (if they get a signal) and connect to the wireless
network.

>3.  Do you use a third-party subscription service such as Boingo, or do
you have your own subscription service, or no subscription required?

No.

>4. If you don't require any authentication/subscription, how does your
University feel about the risk of providing an anonymous platform that
can be used for illegal activity?  Have they accepted the risk?  Do they
not feel the risk is great enough to mitigate?

The wireless network is segregated from our campus network.  The
connection goes directly out to the internet.  We have a packet shaping
device that is shaping the traffic flowing across the wireless network.
Media downloads and traffic from file sharing clients are limited to
about 1Kb, so the CIO's view is if someone wants to wait to download the
files at the slow speed let them.  The view is that their impatience
will cause to give up and leave.  So far we have had no one who actually
wanted to wait about 11 hours to download a 5M file.

Stan Hammond
Information Security Specialist
Cape Cod Community College
West Barnstable, MA