When the city’s RADIUS servers are unreachable, engineers propose configuring Enterprise SSID APs to fail open and allow all associations. What is the correct security design stance?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Fail-open on staff Wi-Fi is like unlocking every office when the badge server blinks. Prefer fail-closed—or a carefully limited degraded mode—not ‘let everyone in until RADIUS wakes up.’
Full Explanation
For Enterprise 802.1X SSIDs, fail-open admission when RADIUS is unavailable undermines authentication guarantees and can admit unauthenticated clients as if they were authorized. Security design favors fail-closed behavior or explicitly constrained emergency modes—not treating captive-portal clicks or open fallback as equivalent to successful 802.1X. Availability planning should use redundant AAA, not silent trust-all.