A Perfect Security Storm Challenges Higher Education

New technology has an amazing ability to educate and wired campuses contribute untold value to the learning process, providing the opportunity for everyone to voice opinions, share ideas, and connect with others. However, university and college administrators and technology managers know that this rich learning environment does not come without challenges and risks. It is not unusual for the typical higher education institution to have between 25,000 and 70,000 networked devices attached to very high speed, high capacity networks with fast connections to the Internet and to regional, national and international research networks.

Many of the computing devices on the network are neither owned nor managed by the school and represent a wide range of configurations and applications. In some cases, the devices and applications are immature and untested, representing an unknown set of vulnerabilities. This situation is compounded by a user community students, faculty, and administrators with differing, sometimes conflicting, views on the level and type of security required. In this complex environment, maintaining a culture of open information exchange and optimized learning while protecting networks (and the devices attached to them) from abuse is not an easy task. Learn how next-generation firewalls with a centralized management and reporting console meet the security needs of higher education data networks.