Tony Kirkham

Academic Freedom or Application Chaos - An Analysis of Application Usage on University Networks

In university IT departments, the subject of increased network security is met with varied levels of resistance that is based, among other things, on the premise of academic freedom. As a result of the educational freedom argument, university network security policies may be viewed as more open than those that might be used on an enterprise network.
Academic Freedom or Application Chaos from Palo Alto Networks sheds light on the types of applications in use on university networks and poses the question of whether or not the academic freedom argument is real or merely a banner behind which high risk application usage can hide. The finding that most aggressively questions this argument is the relatively high frequency of applications that enable circumvention were found.
Based on live network traffic assessments performed on 619 university networks between June 2009 and March 2012.

Tony Kirkham's Biography
Since October 2011, Anthony Kirkham has held the role of Systems Engineer with Palo Alto Networks. Anthony previously had an 18 year tenure with Cisco Systems, holding a variety of positions, the most recent as a Senior Solution Architect. Anthony is an experienced network engineer and architect, skilled in both Enterprise and Internet Service provider environments. Anthony has a detailed understanding of the security issues facing both classes of customers. Anthony has performed security consulting work globally. His customers have included a number of the worlds largest and most mission critical environments.