Wi-Fi Guest Access: A Struggle For Secure Functionality in Academic Environments

The rapid growth in the functionality of Wi-Fi networking in recent years has benefited academic environments. Consistent with their role as centers of innovation academic institutions have an interest in facilitating as much mobile, computer networking functionality as possible to parties of varying levels of affiliation, while also assuring confidentiality and integrity of communications. Providing secure yet functional Wi-Fi access to guests and affiliates in an academic environment presents significant challenges. Academic institutions have taken a wide variety of approaches to this problem. This study presents and analyzes data gathered from semi-structured telephone interviews with employees focused on computer networking and security in academic environments regarding their institutions' approaches toward striking a balance between security and functionality. The results are summarized, conclusions are presented, and solutions to common problems are reviewed. Finally, remaining significant research questions are presented and explored