Want to learn the best practice for configuring Chromebooks with 802.1X authentication?

Sign up for a Webinar!

Setting up Secure BYOD Wi-Fi for K-12 Students

Key Points
  • SecureW2 can supply your school with everything they need to implement a top of the line BYOD network infrastructure.

The days of getting in trouble for bringing technology into class are long gone. Many school districts actually rely on students to bring their own devices in order to incorporate technology into their curriculum. IT administrators are then tasked with keeping track of each device to make sure none are gateways for a security breach.

This is no small feat considering there could be potentially hundreds of devices logged into a network with only a few administrators available to safeguard the school’s Wi-Fi. In fact, the 2020 calendar year saw a record-breaking number of publicly disclosed school cyber incidents, with this in mind, it’s absolutely critical for a school to plan its network infrastructure properly and to stress secure best practices to their students and faculty. WPA2-Enterprise with 802.1X authentication is the gold standard for wireless authentication and it’s simple with SecureW2, the #1 rated BYOD Wi-Fi onboarding solution on the market just see what one of our customers said.

But what is the best way to secure a BYOD environment and still provide a seamless user experience?

 

Secure Browsing with a WPA2-Enterprise Network

The first step is choosing a network type that is viable for a BYOD system. The industry standard is a WPA2-Enterprise network that authenticates users with a RADIUS server.

The downside of using a WPA2-Enterprise network is it can require an involved onboarding process for users. The most difficult part of using a traditional WPA2-Enterprise network is training the users to configure their own devices; this is especially difficult for K-12s as younger students usually don’t have the technological know-how to do it properly.

 

Simple Automated Onboarding

Each authentication event is a potential access point for a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM). MITM involves an attacker broadcasting an imitation SSID with the intention of tricking improperly configured devices into connecting and giving up user credentials.

Luckily, SecureW2’s JoinNow onboarding solution can provide configuration software for K-12s that allows any student to configure their device for WPA2-Enterprise with just a few clicks. SecureW2 has spent years developing best-in-class tools with students of any age in mind to make connecting devices for secure wireless a breeze and make your deployment a success.

Instead of hassling with complex, multi-step configuration processes that confuse students and faculty and lead to security lapses, JoinNow allows network administrators to completely streamline their network connectivity. End users download the institution’s configuration package, follow a few prompts, and get connected in no time.

 

Choose an Effective Authentication Method

Unfortunately, choosing a WPA2-Enterprise network does not necessarily make your network secure. There are a number of different authentication protocols to get connected to WPA2-Enterprise, and some are much more secure than others.

The authentication method that is most highly recommended is an EAP-TLS protocol. This first-rate authentication method authenticates a device’s certificate in an EAP tunnel, protecting it from over-the-air credential theft attacks. Once a user onboards on a network utilizing EAP-TLS, the risk of connecting to an illegitimate network becomes virtually nonexistent.

It also gets rid of all the problems associated with passwords! One of the biggest complaints we hear from our customers is that their students are either sharing passwords or forgetting them entirely. Certificates offer the best form of network security and get rid of any reliance on passwords for students.

 

Safe BYOD With SecureW2

SecureW2 can provide any K-12 an easy way to establish a secure certificate-backed WPA2-Enterprise network. Our JoinNow Suite gives IT administrators everything they need to successfully connect every user.

With a fully functional management portal, you can easily manage and revoke certificates and stay aware of the comings and going of your network. You can limit the number of devices on the network, inspect SSL certificates, and tie your users to their traffic. You can rest easy knowing your network is secure from threats both outside and inside your institution.

SecureW2 can supply your school with everything they need to implement a top-of-the-line BYOD network infrastructure. Check out our pricing page here to see how we can be of service.

 

 

 

Learn about this author

Eytan Raphaely

Eytan Raphaely is a digital marketing professional with a true passion for writing things that he thinks are really funny, that other people think are mildly funny. Eytan is a graduate of University of Washington where he studied digital marketing. Eytan has diverse writing experience, including studios and marketing consulting companies, digital comedy media companies, and more.

Setting up Secure BYOD Wi-Fi for K-12 Students