In the News

I'm quoted in an article in today's Des Moines Register, regarding rogue wireless access points at the state universities.  The quote is accurate, but the statement above it isn't.  I actually said we're using our new access points to detect and suppress rogue access points on our network, at least in the areas we have the new gear.  Approximately three-quarters of our gear is the older stuff that can't do that.  Also, it sort of leaves out our residential networks, which do have many rogue access points in them, but I don't police the dorms for that stuff, as we don't have any legitimate wireless access points there, and it'd be a Sisyphean task to attempt to police them manually.

The U of I is the only public university in Iowa doing a large-scale audit of wireless access points. The University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University respond to complaints about rogue connections, officials said.

Some newer computer software can find rogues and let administrators shut them down, said Seth Bokelman, senior systems administrator for UNI.

"I've only found one and that was a graduate student who had set one up in his office," he said. "We disabled it pretty quickly and referred it to his department head."