PolicyKey necessary
for Internet access

Connecting to the Internet wirelessly at North Lake isn't as simple as turning on a laptop computer anymore. Students and staff using a laptop without PolicyKey installed are redirected to a Dallas County college district page that explains network usage policies and offers instructions for installing PolicyKey. It's not possible to access the Internet via the DCCCD network without installing the monitoring software.

The change in network access isn't without its critics.

Several students have expressed concerns when asked for their opinion about the PolicyKey requirement. The most frequent concern was that PolicyKey could allow hackers to access personal information stored on the computer.

“I think it's BS”, said Kevin Mitchell. “If it's for the student's benefit, they should have the choice of installing it or not.” Mitchell went on to describe problems he'd had with the PolicyKey software, including its failure to recognize his anti-spyware software. It also caused problems when he tried to turn off his computer.

Brian Zavodny, another North Lake student, expressed similar frustrations with PolicyKey. He said students “shouldn't have to download three things just to get online.” Like Mitchell, Zavodny encountered problems with PolicyKey recognizing his antivirus and anti-spyware programs.

The new software also permits district tech teams to control activity on the network.

Craig Baugh, a senior network/systems specialist, was quick to deny that SafeConnect collects or maintains records of a student's Internet activity.

Dennis Muley, president of Impulse Point, agreed in an e-mail response: “The system only enforces the specific security policies determined by the policy administrator. No personal information is collected or identified.”

The change in the way students and faculty access North Lake's wireless network is a result of the DCCCD's purchase of Impulse Point's SafeConnect network security product. The SafeConnect system is advertised as a flexible network monitoring and surveillance package that allows network managers to monitor computers for compliance with network usage policies.

SafeConnect, the program that runs on the network, comes with a variety of preconfigured “modules” that allow network administrators to ensure users have up-to-date antivirus software or that prevent students from running peer-to-peer applications like Kazaa and BitTorrent over the DCCCD network.

PolicyKey is the application students are required to install. It allows students to connect to the wireless network. After it's installed, PolicyKey runs in the background – even if the computer is not connected to the North Lake network.

Jim Casey, North Lake's interim dean of educational and administrative technology, and Baugh both cited a desire for enhanced network security as the motivation for the change in wireless access policy.

“I want the client to have an antivirus (program), and I want it to be up to date,” Baugh said. In addition to ensuring computers connecting to the wireless network are protected from viruses, SafeConnect allows administrators to limit access if computers don't have the most recent security patches installed.

Requiring the latest security patches for operating systems means that Windows XP users have to install Microsoft's SP2 before they can connect to the network.

Since some older programs won't run or run poorly with SP2 installed, some students and faculty may have to choose between running those programs or being able to connect to the wireless network.

If a computer doesn't meet DCCCD's security policy, and users ignore the two warnings given by SafeConnect, the computer is “quarantined.” A quarantined computer is blocked from Internet access and only allowed to access DCCCD sites like eCampus and eConnect until the SafeConnect system detects that antivirus and operating systems have been updated.