Meetinghouse Data Communications, a developer of network authentication software for wired and wireless local-area networks, has added Mac OS X support to its AEGIS line of network authentication software.
AEGIS is an end-to-end 802.1X security solution providing secure standards-based user authentication for wired and wireless LANs in enterprise and public access networks. Dr. Paul Goransson, founder and president of Meetinghouse Data Communications, said that they’re the first company to offer 802.1X-based wireless LAN authentication software for the operating system. Many colleges and universities, as well as enterprises and home users use Apple computers, and support for this widely deployed platform was critical, he added.
“Today’s colleges and universities need to provide wireless LAN access across the campus. Supporting multiple operating systems like Linux, Windows and Mac OS are critical, but perhaps more importantly is providing secure access,” said Jim Wolfgang, CIO of Georgia College & State University, the institution conducting a proof-of-concept for wireless network deployments for the university system of Georgia, USA. “AEGIS is helping Georgia investigate deploying secure, high-speed wireless network access.”
AEGIS offers both client and server software that ensures secure wireless LAN access and industry-standard authentication methods, Goransson said. Plus it provides an enhanced tunneling authentication solution, EAP-TTLS, which simplifies network management by eliminating the burden of client certificates, and by leveraging existing standard user-name and password infrastructure.
Meetinghouse’s AEGIS Client/Server Solution repairs the weaknesses in the 802.1X protocol allowing dynamic WEP key exchange while supporting legacy, non-EAP, authentication methods such as PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP and MS-CHAP V2 through the authentication tunnel, Goransson said. Meetinghouse’s tunneling authentication solution lets end-users securely authenticate with standard password credentials enclosed in a TLS wrapper, protecting credentials against attacks without client-side certificates, he added.
Beta versions of AEGIS Client for Mac OS X (which only supports EAP-MD5 authentication) are available now on the Meetinghouse Web site. AEGIS Client for Mac OS X will be available in August for US$49.99 per user (volume discounts may be available).