Mobility & Security on Campus

Panel from BCNET Application Advisory Committee
Phil Chatterton, UBC
Paul Stokes, UVic
Leo de Sousa, BCIT
Hugh Burley, TRU

UBC figures about 180,000+ mobile devices on campus
70% IOS, 20% Android, 10% other
There is a shift underway, but this is current state

A mobile web first approach is in place as of this year. Kurogo Mobile Platform from MIT & Harvard is in use, and iOS and Android apps are in development campus-wide. A campus wide encryption program has launched (WDE), and an examination of mobile use and security program is ongoing.

UVic claims to be far less maturer than UBC when it comes to ability to serve the demands of a mobile hungry user community. Faculty, staff, and students each have different needs, and need to be supported and managed differently.

66% of mobile devices in use at UVic are iOS based. The focus is intended to be on teaching and learning when it comes to UVic's IT planning. A focus on privacy and security is also essential.

BCIT has had a more administrative focus on BYOD. They noticed a significant uptake in iOS and tablet use from an employee point of view as of this past Christmas. Employees wanting a work-life blend will want to use the tools they are comfortable with and thus the consumerisation of systems at BCIT for staff.

Heavy use of Citrix to deliver applications has been a stronger focus than managing mobile platforms or delivering virtual desktops. Hosting virtual desktops will be a focus for next year, as will network access control in a controlled but not closed methodology; systems will always get at least Internet access.

A vulnerability has made its presence known at BCIT - hole 196 allows a man-in-the-middle attack by an internal user; the advice from Leo is to run HTTPS on all your servers.

Hugh, from TRU, states part of their success comes from a centralised IT group, and the most important achievement is in establishing standards and governance. This has led to an understanding of what they are trying to protect, and why.

A mobile device management server architecture is in place at TRU for iOS/Android and Blackberry. This helps address the issues with mobile devices, which are best understood when we understand how we use the devices and why.

TRU is seeing an exponential growth of mobile devices used to access campus electronic services for administration and learning, as well as the fact that people have multiple devices they want connected wirelessly.

When asked if we are being these technologies are pushed, pulled, or dragged from campus IT services groups, the consensus is a mixture of all three; varying at each campus.

Leo posited that access to resources via mobile and consumer devices should be determined by the security and privacy requirements of the service you are trying to access. This is how we address the challenge of how do we use NAC, mobile device management, and application delivery to ensure that we support the delivery of education and research.

I asked if researcher users are being considered to fit into a similar approach to academic and administrative, and the panel agreed that they are unique in many factors, and that the basic principle of educate before enforce is vital with that community.

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