Wolf Creek Bolsters Security To Support Student-Owned Mobile Devices
Wolf Creek Public Schools in Alberta, Canada is beefing up network security for its wired and wireless infrastructure. The effort is being launched to support its laptop program and a new initiative that encourages students to bring their own mobile devices to school.
For the deployment, Wolf Creek is rolling out an integrated security solution from InfoExpress and Alcatel-Lucent, the CyberGatekeeper network access control and host integrity check solution. The district had previously deployed Alcatel-Lucent systems for voice and data. Using the solution, students will be able to authenticate and qualify their personal devices to gain access to the network. (Qualification includes meeting certain compliance requirements. The district did not specify the requirements. However, it did say that network administrators would be notified when students try to run unapproved software.)
"Wolf Creek Public Schools has been providing laptops to enhance instruction as part of our one-to-one mobile computing program sponsored by Alberta Education," said Gary Spence, Wolf Creek assistant superintendent, in a statement released today. "We wanted to expand the program, but it was just not financially possible to provide every student with a laptop. The solution: have students bring their own devices. However, allowing students and staff to access the network using their own devices required a more robust security and integrity solution, one that would authenticate and pre-qualify laptops as they came on the network. InfoExpress CyberGatekeeper can detect, quarantine, and remediate unhealthy laptops that are not in compliance with our security protocols."
Alcatel-Lucent partner SSP Converged Solutions is providing management and maintenance support for the CyberGatekeeper.
Wolf Creek Public Schools serves about 7,600 students in 34 schools. It employs some 475 teachers and 350 staff and has an annual operating budget of $65.2 million.