Barrier Free Internet Access: Evaluating the Cyber Security Risk Posed by the Adoption of Bring Your Own Devices to e-Learning Network Infrastructure

The adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) – also known as Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT), Bring Your Own Phone (BYOP), or Bring Your Own Personal Computer (BYOPC) – is a policy which allows people access to privileged resources, information and services available on the private computer network of an organization using their own personal computer devices. BYOD, since its emergence in 2009, courtesy of Intel, is now a common practice in many organizations. Academic institutions that attempt to implement BYOD, can derive many benefits as well as many risks to its network infrastructure, largely security-based. This paper presents an assessment of a WLAN network which has been deployed for a campus-wide data centric e-learning platform at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) towards the overall objective of achieving a barrier free internet access to enhance the teaching and learning process at the university. The paper subsequently evaluates the WLAN infrastructure, its accompanying BYOD set-up, and associated likely security risks and threats, and recommends appropriate solutions.