During my time working in the Networking Services department at UT Dallas, I gave a presentation for the EDUCAUSE community about the work I did to transition our wireless LAN security from the static WEP security in place at the time to the more enterprise friendly 802.1X based security that it uses today.  I first gave the presentation live at the EDUCAUSE Southwest Regional Conference held in Austin, Texas in February of 2005.   After the live presentation, I was approached about giving this presentation to the larger international EDUCAUSE body at one of the (then) upcoming EDUCAUSE Live! web seminars they do every month.  I, of course, jumped at the opportunity, and gave the seminar on April 25, 2005.  It’s hard to believe that it’s been just over three years now.

One of the things that I liked about the EDUCAUSE Live! events was that, in addition to being a live web event, they were also archived so that viewers could benefit from the information in previously recorded sessions.  The Live! folks recently switched from the streaming system they were using before, based on Horizon Wimba, to a new system based on Adobe’s Acrobat Connect.  In the process, they unfortunately broke the links to all of the archives from the Horizon Wimba days.  This presentation still comes up when when I talk to folks about network security, as it’s a very good primer to what 802.1X is and how it works, so I still like to refer people to it when I can.  The good news is that the archives are actually still alive, just not readily accessible without instructions, so I thought I’d post the instructions for getting to my presentation here.

First of all, you can get to the information on the presentation and the PowerPoint slides by going to http://www.educause.edu/LIVE058 and clicking on the View Event Archives link at the top left.  To get to the full audio/video archive of the presentation, follow these instructions:

• Point your browser to the EDUCAUSE Live! Horizon Wimba Server
  
• Click on the Participant Login button
• Enter “educause” (without the quotes) in the Login ID field, and put anything in the Name field
• Once logged in, the Wimba service will run through a wizard to make sure you have all of the necessary components installed to run the presentation
• After finishing the wizard, you will be taken to the main Horizon Wimba window, click on the Archives tab
• Scroll down to the link titled “2005/04/25: Mike Griego, Wireless Security with 802.1X” and click on it to begin the presentation

Take a look if you’re at all curious.  If your organization is looking to implement enhanced security for your wireless LAN, whether it’s being required of your organization by privacy statutes such as HIPAA, or you simply need to be assured that your network and data are safe, Nearband Networks can work with you to achieve that goal.  We have years of experience under our belts that we can use to ensure that your wireless network is secure while also making the transition as smooth as possible for your users.