Deployment Timeline
The client reached out to SecureW2 in September 2021 in search of an onboarding solution for guests to their school district’s wireless networks. They wanted a way to have open enrollment that was secure and also integrated with their Extreme and Mist access points.
After learning about SecureW2’s NetAuth feature, they requested a proof of concept and were set up with guest network security in a week’s time.
Challenges
The client was concerned about their lackluster guest network security. The IT team was stuck manually approving guest users trying to access their network, and the process was wasting limited resources.
Essentially, the school district wanted a robust guest network that needs far less oversight from their IT team and is still able to function smoothly and securely. They wanted a way to automate security for their guest network without having to completely overhaul their infrastructure. They also wanted to make sure that the users on their guest network were not given access to the same information as a student or staff member.
Solutions
SecureW2’s JoinNow NetAuth is the perfect solution for guest network access, and this school district knew it. NetAuth allows users attempting to access a guest network to register themselves with just a couple of clicks and get their credentials over email or text message.
Instead of burdening their IT desk with constant authentication requests, now the school can let trusted network users add their own sponsored guests. IT admins also have complete control over who can access what with our VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) steering capabilities.
Our Cloud RADIUS server can even make runtime-level policy decisions based on attributes stored on digital certificates distributed to guests or in the user directory (even cloud directories like Okta, Azure, and Google). This technology actually enables VLAN steering earlier in the authentication process, potentially preventing more advanced methods of unwanted entry to the network.
Evaluating Success
SecureW2 was easily able to integrate our JoinNow NetAuth solution to the client’s guest network. They are now able to easily manage their guest network, with no risk of any security breaches.
It doesn’t end there, either. Moving forward, the client is interested in switching to an EAP-TLS backed network with SecureW2.