Re: So ...
"There's better ways of dealing with such issues than bringing the place to its knees and firing people the moment someone plugs in an unauthorised laptop."
Yup. If someone plugs an unauthorised laptop into _MY_ network, they'll find they can't do anything. They can plug into as many wallports as they like across the site, they'll get the same result, but putting the authorised device in will work instantly.
If they get clever and plug a hub into the wallport, the system will either disable the port the moment a second device is connected or (at my discretion), continue working but disallow the unauthorised devices. I don't like the latter option as it opens the possibility of sniffing.
Gotta love 802.1x
It still sets an alarm, but there's no need to shut the site down.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
