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One Step Ahead: Connecting to the Secure Hotspots Around the World

Another tip in a series provided by the Offices of Information Systems & Computing and Audit, Compliance & Privacy

Connecting to Secure Hotspots Around the World

Did you know that members of the Penn community can seamlessly and securely connect their laptops, tablets and phones to over 6,000 free wireless hotspots at universities, research centers and other research and education institutions in more than 85 countries around the world? 

Penn participates in eduroam (education roaming), a global initiative that allows users (faculty, staff, students, researchers, etc.) from participating institutions to securely access the Internet from any eduroam-supporting institution. 

No more scrambling for temporary or guest credentials when you visit other participating universities and institutions—in fact, enabling eduroam will allow you to skip typing passwords entirely. Your device will identify a valid eduroam access point and automatically log in, while never sharing your password with any access point or non-Penn organization.

To take advantage of eduroam, be sure to first enable eduroam on each of your computers or devices while you are still on Penn’s campus network. 

To begin your eduroam setup:

Visit http://eduroam.upenn.edu, or 

Contact your Local Support Provider at https://www.isc.upenn.edu/get-it-help

(Note that your eduroam identity must take the format “[your PennKey]@upenn.edu”, which may differ from your Penn email address. Use your PennKey password as you normally would.)

For more detailed information on how eduroam works, visit https://www.isc.upenn.edu/news/eduroam-penn or https://www.eduroam.org/about/connect-yourself/

For a map of participating eduroam networks, visit https://monitor.eduroam.org/map_service_loc.php

 

Bonus tip: If you are hosting visiting lecturers, researchers or Penn guests from other eduroam-supporting institutions, consider encouraging them to enable eduroam on their devices (per their institution’s instructions) before they arrive at Penn. They could enjoy seamless, immediate connectivity upon arrival here, and also in academic settings around the globe.

 

For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: www.upenn.edu/computing/security/

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