Walkup Security

Accountability

The UIUC campus network and the Internet are available to all members of the UIUC community. However, Walkup Computing sites are not well protected from misuse by non-authorized people. Therefore we identify you as a legitimate student, faculty/staff member, or authorized guest before you can have access to the network from this site. We collect accounting records for each session with the login NetID, the session length, and the amount of traffic sent to and from your computer. This information is confidential.

Login

There are two primary options for Walkup users to authenticate themselves with: UIUCnet QuickConnect (simpler but more limited) and the VPN server (more powerful but also more complex). Walkup users normally log in through the UIUCnet QuickConnect service.

When you first open your web browser and try to visit a web page, the QuickConnect service will prompt you to log in. The login sequence is encrypted and uses the campus Bluestem servers for authentication. After you've logged in, you'll receive an authentication cookie and a pop-up login renewal window.

If you leave the renewal window open, your connection will be automatically and securely renewed at the end of each hour. However, if you close the renewal window and wish to continue to use the network beyond an hour, you'll need to log in again.

Logout

You may explicitly log out using the logout Web page, but this is not necessary. To access the logout Web page, either use the Logout button on the popup window or visit http://quickconnect.cites.uiuc.edu/ at any time. This is a special IP address recognized by the Walkup system that will let you check your login status and log out if you wish.

If you do not log out, then closing the renewal window, turning off your computer, or removing its network cable from the port will cause you to be logged out within the hour.

Limitations of QuickConnect

UIUCnet QuickConnect will allow you to use many common networking protocols and secure protocols. However, for security purposes, some types of network activity are not permitted over QuickConnect.

The easiest way to see whether an action is permitted over QuickConnect is to try it. If it fails, you may need to use the VPN server to connect instead of QuickConnect.

More information about what is and isn't permitted through QuickConnect is available from UIUCnet QuickConnect and Security.