IT Services and Residential Computing have planned a pilot of a residential firewall system for this summer, to protect student computers against incoming traffic from other networks. ITS has been rolling out firewalls in academic and administrative departments for some time, but a key piece needed for the residences will now be available, the ability for individual users (not network administrators) to select their level of protection. As planned, starting Summer Quarter students registering for in-room network connections would be able to select their level (from wide open to totally closed). Over the summer a few residences would be firewalled in a pilot, likely Summer Research College and Studios 3 & 4. If the pilot was successful, the firewalls would be activated on all residential networks in late August.

For more information on the project see: https://www.stanford.edu/services/firewall/