[geeks] P2P Monitoring / Mitigation

[Dan Sikorski]

Bill Blum wrote:
> Well, the average student user at my school isn't that technically literate---
> unless it impacts their Myspace, Facebook, or Limewire/Bearshare access,
> they're effectively oblivious.
>
> Our other problem-- neither myself or my boss really have any business mucking
> around internally in the Cisco gear, as it was all installed by an
> Outside Contractor
> when we went from POTS+ethernet and campus-wide wireless access.
> (I can build you a radar from off-the-shelf-parts.   I'm still lucky
> to get a cat-5 cable right on the first try).
>
> I'm looking at Packetfence, and pfSense may work as well.
> Thanks for the guidance, people.
>   

I think you're probably in a pretty sticky situation.  There's no way 
you can get away with being as restrictive as giving everyone proxy-only 
access to the internet, and you have little control over what they do on 
their own computers. 

What you do have on your side is that the students there are relatively 
smart and tech-savvy.  Even if they're not that technically literate, 
they are easy to educate.  Have you talked to people on campus about 
doing some programs about piracy, it's concequences and legal 
alternatives to illegal file sharing?  I'm sure you could lend a helping 
hand with a few programs that might make a bigger difference than you 
would expect.  Does your school offer anti-virus and firewall software 
to students?

If you feel comfortable sharing, what school are you at?  Have you 
contacted staff at any other similar sized school and asked how they are 
handling p2p traffic?  There might even be a few of them on this list, i 
know for sure that at least a few schools are represented.  If that 
fails, i have contacts at few schools in my area that i could pass on.

Oddly enough, I'm supposed to be looking into/evaluating the use of 
Clean Access for the satellite campus that i take evening classes at.  
The school that my girlfriend works for already uses it.

    -Dan Sikorski