Last Modified: Monday, 02-Jun-2003 10:07:30 EDT

Setting up a wireless network has become as easy as buying a wireless base station,  connecting it to the CSB network with a cable and plugging it in.  Now you can connect numerous computers to the intra/internet with nary a word to the CSB staff.  Wireless in its current state is an insecure medium and as such the CSB staff must institute policies to prevent the compromising of passwords transmitted over the wireless medium and limiting access to the CSB backbone to only those authorized to use it.

The default configurations of wireless access points allow for ease of connectivity at the expense of confidentiality and availability.  Confidentiality in that with available tools someone within wireless distance could "listen in" on your wireless connection and capture usernames and passwords allowing access to a full range of computers.  Availability in that in standard configurations any computer with a wireless card could discover your access point and connect to it thus reducing the total bandwidth available to legitimate users.

The following policies are mandatory for wireless networking.  They will be updated and communicated to the labs as standards and services evolve.
 

1. All access points must be registered with the CSB staff.  This will include the MAC hardware address, administrative password, the name you assigned it and the administrative contact.  We will assign a fixed address to the access point from out pool of private IP address.  Be assured that we do monitor our network and we will find any access points that are connected.
2. To prevent access points from providing service to anyone within range we require that the network name chosen be hidden (this means the access point does not broadcast its service) as well as WEP encryption enabled to prevent eavesdropping.