Restricting wireless networks a laptop can access

I have a bunch of laptops that travel in areas where there are wi-fi
networks. We also have wi-fi in the office. Is there any software
that will allow our laptops to access our network but not any others?
It needs to be fairly robust because we have some reasonable computer
literate users.

Thanks,
Dave

Who Cares! wrote:

> I have a bunch of laptops that travel in areas where there are wi-fi
> networks. We also have wi-fi in the office. Is there any software
> that will allow our laptops to access our network but not any others?
> It needs to be fairly robust because we have some reasonable computer
> literate users.
>
> Thanks,
> Dave
>
>

Uh-huh. You want to ensure that your road warriors cannot use their
road tools on road trips. Do your company cars stall at the gates
of the company parking lot?
--
Cheers, Bob

"Bob Willard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:vOydnSFWcdP-DrDfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
| Who Cares! wrote:
|
| > I have a bunch of laptops that travel in areas where there are
wi-fi
| > networks. We also have wi-fi in the office. Is there any
software
| > that will allow our laptops to access our network but not any
others?
| > It needs to be fairly robust because we have some reasonable
computer
| > literate users.
| >
| > Thanks,
| > Dave
| >
| >
|
| Uh-huh. You want to ensure that your road warriors cannot use their
| road tools on road trips. Do your company cars stall at the gates
| of the company parking lot?
| --
| Cheers, Bob

Thanks for the response, Bob.

The truth is that the computers belong to city employees who rarely if
ever travel out of the city. However, there are a number of unsecured
"hotspots" in the city and we would prefer that our employees not
access them. All city access to the internet needs to be through our
network, not someone else's. Why? Well, we had an officer sitting in
his car downtown log onto an unfiltered network a few years ago and go
to porn sites. A resident recorded it through the car window. There
is a plan for a commercial mesh network to be installed and we want to
keep our people off of it in most cases.

Now, can anyone else help?

Who Cares! wrote:
>> Who Cares! wrote:
>>
>>> I have a bunch of laptops that travel in areas where there are wi-fi
>>> networks. We also have wi-fi in the office. Is there any software
>>> that will allow our laptops to access our network but not any
>>> others? It needs to be fairly robust because we have some
>>> reasonable computer literate users.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Dave
>>>
>
> The truth is that the computers belong to city employees who rarely if
> ever travel out of the city. However, there are a number of unsecured
> "hotspots" in the city and we would prefer that our employees not
> access them. All city access to the internet needs to be through our
> network, not someone else's. Why? Well, we had an officer sitting in
> his car downtown log onto an unfiltered network a few years ago and go
> to porn sites. A resident recorded it through the car window. There
> is a plan for a commercial mesh network to be installed and we want to
> keep our people off of it in most cases.
>
> Now, can anyone else help?

Consider using VPN servers and client software combos. You can set up the
laptops that can use any hotspot it sees/but ONLY connect to your company
network via VPN tunnels.

Won't stop anyone from using additional software on say a floppy or CD to
still access the ummm "dirty" stuff, but should mitigate your legal
liability since someone has to intentionally avoid using the software you
provide.

"Peter Pan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
| Who Cares! wrote:
| >> Who Cares! wrote:
| >>
| >>> I have a bunch of laptops that travel in areas where there are
wi-fi
| >>> networks. We also have wi-fi in the office. Is there any
software
| >>> that will allow our laptops to access our network but not any
| >>> others? It needs to be fairly robust because we have some
| >>> reasonable computer literate users.
| >>>
| >>> Thanks,
| >>> Dave
| >>>
| >
| > The truth is that the computers belong to city employees who
rarely if
| > ever travel out of the city. However, there are a number of
unsecured
| > "hotspots" in the city and we would prefer that our employees not
| > access them. All city access to the internet needs to be through
our
| > network, not someone else's. Why? Well, we had an officer
sitting in
| > his car downtown log onto an unfiltered network a few years ago
and go
| > to porn sites. A resident recorded it through the car window.
There
| > is a plan for a commercial mesh network to be installed and we
want to
| > keep our people off of it in most cases.
| >
| > Now, can anyone else help?
|
| Consider using VPN servers and client software combos. You can set
up the
| laptops that can use any hotspot it sees/but ONLY connect to your
company
| network via VPN tunnels.
|
| Won't stop anyone from using additional software on say a floppy or
CD to
| still access the ummm "dirty" stuff, but should mitigate your legal
| liability since someone has to intentionally avoid using the
software you
| provide.

Sounds like a solution we can implement. I'll sure be glad when they
make more "appliances" w/o CD and floppy and other remote memory
access - we can lock the box up and only let the users go where they
should.

Dave

Who Cares! wrote:
>
> Sounds like a solution we can implement. I'll sure be glad when they
> make more "appliances" w/o CD and floppy and other remote memory
> access - we can lock the box up and only let the users go where they
> should.
>
> Dave

Unfortunately, that is sort of happening now (at least with floppies), but
they are also a plethora of keychain sized USB devices that have up to 2 GB
of storage!

> Thanks for the response, Bob.
>
> The truth is that the computers belong to city employees who rarely if
> ever travel out of the city. However, there are a number of unsecured
> "hotspots" in the city and we would prefer that our employees not
> access them. All city access to the internet needs to be through our
> network, not someone else's. Why? Well, we had an officer sitting in
> his car downtown log onto an unfiltered network a few years ago and go
> to porn sites. A resident recorded it through the car window. There
> is a plan for a commercial mesh network to be installed and we want to
> keep our people off of it in most cases.
>
> Now, can anyone else help?
>
>


Others have suggested technical solutions. That's only part of the problem.

For what it's worth, there are obvious policy and leadership issues that
your management has apparently failed to anticipate, and they need
to start thinking about them before the problems escalate.

When you issue the taxpayer-provided equipment to the employees, issue
an unambiguous acceptable use policy too.

Audit the the machines regularly.

Discipline those who don't comply. And if the "officers" are of the
"police" variety, it's even more disturbing.

Surely a police officer who understands how to safely use a gun in
public with actual bullets can be trusted to use a laptop that includes
functional cd/floppy drives?? If not...you don't want 'em working for
you anyway.

Good luck with your vpn approach in the meantine:-)