802.1Xcellent Onboarding solution With Cloudpath

After researching Ruckus Cloudpath on the Ruckus website, it is clear to see that the security of wireless is starting to improve. It was only a couple of months ago that our MD Mark Julier stressed in his article that security was one of the factors the industry was lacking in. CloudPath has certainly attempted to tackle the problem.

CloudPath has been available for a while now, but only recently has been taken over by the leaders in wireless. The idea of it is to abolish the Pre-shared key that is often visible on a notice board and shared around offices to enable that user to connect any device. This is a nice easy way to connect to a wireless network, however it is not very secure due to anyone being able to connect should they acquire the code. There is also no option to restrict a device from a network without changing the pre-shared key for all users. This can often lead to a lot of work for IT administrators and the security of a network is very vulnerable.

What CloudPath offers is a very different approach to security. It uses certificate authentication (802.1X) and a two-way verification process to connect a device to a WLAN. In a nutshell, the enrolment system distributes a unique certificate per device based on policies which means the devices connection can then be controlled by the IT administrators. It creates control down to individual devices which can be verified and removed if needed.

So, what does this mean for you?

What this means for an organisation is that you can have full control over every device that connects to your WLAN. If a user wanted to connect they would follow the process of configuration (the 'set-it-and-forget-it' onboarding). Once they have completed this, they do not need to worry about connecting again. Their device will seamlessly connect to the network each time they are within range. IT admin can set the period of how long devices can connect to the network, which means if they were a student for example at a university, IT could limit their device connection for how long they attend for. Should the user lose their device or have it stolen, the IT administrator can block that device from the network.

One of the most impressive and convenient features of CloudPath is the 'Offsite Configuration'. This means that a user can configure their device from their own home or whatever location they might be in which is an ideal solution for guest users. Once configured, their device will again seamlessly connect to the network whenever they are present in that location. This can be very good for events and allow an attendee to configure before they attend. All onboarding is self-service and very easy to complete. It is also fully customisable to what you would like the user to see when configuring.

So, there we have it. A secure and automated device enablement. That Wi-Fi code that is currently written up on your wall could soon be ripped down. Do you really want that code to create problems for your organisation? The solution could finally be here.