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Wireless computing gives you the freedom to roam. You can take your laptop computer or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) to a library, classroom, cafe, or wherever wireless service is offered and connect to the Internet. You can also purchase a wireless base station, called a router, for your home so you can get online anywhere in the house or in the immediate vicinity outdoors.

OSU Wireless. Ohio State's main campus is a large wireless (or Wi-FI) zone that covers nearly all of the main campus buildings and the immediate areas outside of them. Because Ohio State wants to ensure that its wireless service is used only by students, faculty and staff, the university requires authentication; you need to provide your OSU Wireless Username and password to get online. Without restricted access, anyone in range of OSU Wireless can take advantage of it without the university's knowledge. Intruder mischief can range from consuming resources, such as network bandwidth, to anonymously conducting embarrassing and/or illicit activities that could be traced back to Ohio State's access points and lead to civil or criminal actions against the university.

Precautions. Even though wireless service is convenient, keep in mind that whenever and wherever you use wireless to send e-mail, attachments, files, and information that you consider private, you are broadcasting signals that can be intercepted and read by other people. As a wireless user, you can take the following precautions to better protect the privacy and security of your communications.

• Secure your communications using an encryption method such as PGP. For details, see the article on Encryption.


• Use wireless networks that are secure. OSU Wireless employs the WPA encryption protocol, which is also built into modern operating systems such as Windows XP and Macintosh OSX. Other security protocols exist. Many wireless networks are also WEP-enabled or EAP-enabled. A WEP key is a security feature and EAP is the wireless “standard” on privacy. A WEP key-enabled wireless network alone is better than one without it, but intruders can still “sniff” the traffic and guess the WEP key. To solve this problem, the network should also adhere to the EAP protocol, which requires frequent rotation of WEP keys to discourage intrusions.

More Information:

OSu Wireless network

8help Knowledge Base wireless articles

OSU Wireless Policy. The Office of the CIO has drafted the “Policy on Deployment and Use of Wireless Data Networks” on behalf of the university. The policy states that “All use of wireless access points and devices must comply with applicable laws, regulations, and university policies including FCC regulations and the university's Policy on Responsible Use of University Computing Resources”.

Secure your communications using an encryption method

Try to ensure that any wireless service you use employs added security

If you install wireless in your home, make it as secure as you can