End users protested the loudest when Stanford University first beefed up authentication to the wireless LAN. "They had been using wireless without doing anything, so there was a bit of noise about it," says Phil Reese, director of network services. But once the Perfigo authentication was integrated with the users' Leland client, the noise died down, he says.
Stanford's key decision-makers in IT and security were on board with the wireless authentication plans from day one. "I got the blessing right away, so it was only a matter of finding the right solution at the right price point," Reese says.
Reese and his network services team spent about $200,000 on the Cisco access points and Perfigo SecureSmart servers, which was right in line with the budget. His team went door-to-door on campus, alerting everyone about the new authentication procedure, with notices and information on how to authenticate to the wireless LAN.
The next battleground is moving authentication into the two dorms on campus that are running wireless tests. The residences don't have the new authentication technology, though it's coming. The plan is to add a SecureSmart appliance to each of those buildings. "We need to win that battle, and I think we will," he says.
With the university's new firewalls on the wired network and beefed-up authentication on the wireless one, security is becoming more a part of Stanford's culture.
