The Challenge
A community bank with five branch locations faced a common but consequential problem: using pre-shared keys to safeguard network access. Anyone who knew the password could connect to the Wi-Fi, even if they were a former employee or an unauthorized guest.
For a bank carrying the full regulatory weight of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) oversight, network security, and data protection mandates, password-based authentication created both a security gap and an audit liability. The bank needed consistent authentication policies without on-premise servers at each branch.
The IT team also managed Android devices through Microsoft Intune and needed certificate-based Wi-Fi profiles pushed automatically to those endpoints. The bank selected the SecureW2 JoinNow platform for cloud-native delivery,Intune integration, and the ability to cover all five branches from a single platform.
The Solution
SecureW2 set up Cloud RADIUS and PKI to deploy certificate-based authentication across 130 devices at the bank’s locations. Each device received a unique digital certificate tied to its device identity, replacing the shared Wi-Fi password entirely. Cloud RADIUS authenticates each device without requiring on-premise RADIUS servers at any branch location.
Then, they extended coverage to devices outside traditional MDM enrollment paths. This included setting up Intune wireless profiles for Android devices, closing the mobile coverage gap that had existed under the previous authentication setup.
The new configuration also provided richer context on device and authentication events, giving the network administrator deeper visibility into who and what connects across all five branches.
The Results
- Passwords eliminated: Individual digital certificates replaced pre-shared keys across all five branch locations.
- Expanded deployment: 130 devices secured with certificate-based authentication with planned expansion to 70 additional devices.
- Improved visibility into network access: Data enrichment provided deeper insight into device and authentication activity across the branch environment.