Any way to lock a laptop to a specific SSID network? 1

[BobMCT]

As the subject states...
I've read seemingly both sides of this argument with some saying its possible and others saying its not.

In a small shop of 6 laptops I am looking for a way to lock the wireless network connection to a specific SSID. Any way to achieve this with XP Pro?

Thanks

 

[cdogg]

Reiterating your "threat of termination" comment several times and denying this as being a technical issue isn't the best move for everyone in this situation to make. The point I was getting at was that as an IT manager/director, you don't push back onto leadership by suggesting they need to find a better way to manage behavior. That wouldn't be a good career move.

You find a known solution or you create one. That's what's expected of IT and is also what makes adding suggestions to threads like this one valuable. I only brought this up because it seemed like you were telling others contributing to this thread to stop wasting their time.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

Honestly - yes. I think the OP is wasting their time looking for a technical solution when the real solution lies elsewhere. But, apparently I can't persuade you.

If IT can't figure out a way around this, what would YOU do if you were the IT director???? Would you:

A. Give up and say it's okay for the users to keep connecting to the wrong network and thus causing a possible security issue. Remember, there has been a directive to maintain security - presumably from a higher level than IT. (If I was the IT director, I wouldn't want to okay this so quickly).

B. Communicate the above to management and ask them what they want to do with one of the options being a written directive given to each employee involved to be signed by the employees and returned. Option 2 would be to "don't worry, be happy". Option 3 would be to run cabling. Option 4 could be to relocate workers. (Now you're management some options. Let me them sign on the dotted line.)

I'd rather come back with a behavioral solution rather than NO solution at all.

 

[cdogg]

Honestly - yes. I think the OP is wasting their time looking for a technical solution when the real solution lies elsewhere

That is the purpose of this thread to the OP - to see if a technical issue exists. It's hard to have a discussion about that when one person is giving the same answer over and over even after new suggestions are made. It's also hard for me to believe that there isn't a solution out there. It's just a matter of getting the chance to hear from the right people who have experience on the issue. But the key to that is "listening" and not talking over each other!


I, for one, would be interested in finding out what 3rd-party software exists (which I'm sure it does) that can manage SSID access.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

Sure - great idea. Somebody find one and post back even if it's not free. I'm already at the "what if there is none" point, but let's hold out hope.

 

[cdogg]

Found three:

1) Airstop Pro

http://download.cnet.com/AirStop-Pro/3000-2653_4-10614862.html?tag=mncol

- Cheap solution, but appears to give you the ability to prevent access to all SSID's except the ones you define. Works in Windows XP, although it's fairly new and doesn't have any reviews yet.

2) Cyberoam Endpoint Data Protection

http://www.cyberoam.com/dataprotection.html

- A more complete package that also gives you the ability to lock down the entire workstation when a breach is detected. You can set the hours each day that the wireless NIC can be accessed. Likely more expensive than AirStop.

3) If money isn't tight, I found some solutions from AirMagnet. Products range from a few hundred dollars to $9,000! They seem to have everything, so this would be the ultimate solution if the data is extremely sensitive.

http://www.airmagnet.com/

Just spent about 15 minutes searching...I'm sure there are a lot of good solutions out there not mentioned here.

 

[kjv1611]

I'd imagine with enough time in searching, a free solution could be found as well. Surely someone has come up with a script that can run and do this, though if in a corporate environment, the paid deals could end up being better solutions anyway.

 

[GrimR]

Upgrade to Windows 7 easy solution.
You will one day anyway.

MCITP:EA/SA, MCSE, MCSA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCP+I, MCP