unit 7 assignment 1

Unit 7 Assignment 1 |
Implementation of Authentication Process |
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WLANs (wireless local area networks) are becoming increasingly prevalent, not only in schools, but in many businesses and establishments. They can provide a plethora of benefits within a school environment including flexibility, speed, and resource mobility. A WLAN would assist in ease of use, and make many of the day-to-day functions of school employees easier.
If a WLAN were implemented into the school, it would need to have groups with users assigned to their pertinent groups. Possible groups include students, teachers, IT department, administration, counselors, and high-level admin (Principals, Vice Principals). Of course, within the teachers/educators group, would be all teachers in the classroom. Within the IT department group would be the IT department and any other employees involved in managing and configuring any IT systems. Within the administrators group would be anyone in the front office and does daily administration duties within the school. Counselors would include any student or education counselors in the office. Lastly, high-level administrators would be the highest ranking individuals in the school including the Principal and Vice Principal.
With any network, including a WLAN, there are inherent risks involved. With a WLAN, the wireless aspect opens up additional avenues for hackers or data being compromised. There could be tech-savvy students who could access the network and get into data that they shouldn’t see or modify. A student could obtain the teachers credentials by simply looking over their shoulder or watching them. Also, any outside entities could get within range of the wireless and access the network, if they’re good enough. Wireless can be easily intercepted and accessed.
If I were to develop a simple classification plan for the school system WLAN, it would involve four categories: Private, sensitive, restricted, and proprietary. Depending on the individual’s job title, need to know, and what they need to do their job properly, they will have access to certain levels of the aforementioned scheme. Any given employee will not have more than they need so that information is protected.
In regards to students and any applications they would need, I would narrow it down to the student portal that has only education-related materials. This would keep them off of any counterproductive applications and free up bandwidth for the teachers. Any applications that teachers need, such as the grade book software or any application needed for their daily plans. Administrators would need the software with pertinent student information within the database. Counselors would need the same software, but a bit more in-depth so that they can see all student information. All except students would need to utilize email as well.
I believe PDAs should only be allowed and issued to high-level administrators and any IT individual that is on call. This would narrow the risk of unauthorized access and limit the amount of people with remote access in the form of a PDA. High-level administrators would need it to keep in touch with any people they need to, and remain up-to-date on events involving their school. IT would need one or two so that they can have it at all times, no matter where they are at and can be contacted easily in case of emergency.