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The network infrastructure forms the basis for the most important IT applications in your organization. This makes them a highly endangered area and particularly interesting for attackers. Many companies do not meet the requirements to effectively implement network admission control policies and protect devices in the internal network.
Network connections can easily be attacked by intentional or unintentional actions by users. By connecting to third-party devices or using Wi-Fi, cybercriminals gain direct access to the network and its infrastructure.
How Can Companies Arm Themselves Against the Constantly Increasing Threat From Hacker Attacks?
Network admission control offers a holistic approach to the security of your network infrastructure, in that the monitoring and control of all devices that connect to your network are constantly active and can react immediately to potential threats.
The solution maps all active devices in the network and compares this information with the established trusted base. Every questionable connection attempt triggers a reaction according to the guidelines defined, whereupon the device is quarantined or even completely excluded from access to the network.
In a modern corporate information system (CIS), there can be a large number of applications, services, servers and network equipment, network segments, access options, and devices from which access is performed.
For example, stationary workstations, laptops, mobile devices can be used as devices. CIS users can be employees, clients, contractors, partners, guests. Access can be provided via a local area network, wireless network, from a remote office, via the Internet, using mobile devices and 3G networks.
To implement security policies, a company needs to determine and control who, from what device, from what point connects, and what services and applications can access. It is necessary to control the security of devices – the availability of antivirus with the latest updates, a personal firewall, the latest updates, the implementation of security policies and network admission control, etc.
For these purposes, a corporate network access control system is used, which provides centralized management of user and device identification policies, their access policies to corporate information systems.
Network Access Control (NAC) solutions perform the following main functions:
- Identification of users and administrators of corporate information systems, granting rights following belonging to certain groups or roles;
- Assessment of the state of information security devices connected to the corporate network;
- Profiling of devices connecting to the corporate network;
- Lifecycle management of guest access to the corporate network;
- Monitoring and registration of access events.
Typically, a NAC class system consists of the following components:
- Access control server;
- Network devices involved in user identification and enforcement of access policies;
- Access control client.
It should be noted that previously solutions of two classes were presented on the market – network access control systems and centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting systems (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting – AAA).
Today, leading manufacturers of information security systems have integrated the functions of both classes of systems into systems of the NAC class.
The result of applying the solution
- Reducing the risk of network attacks by blocking access from devices that do not comply with information security policies;
- Management of access to corporate information systems and control of the facts of access;
Automation of access procedures for guest devices.