Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

The most important piece of NAC

The importance of checking out a NACs management platform
Security: Network Access Control Alert By Tim Greene , Network World , 05/22/2007
Tim Greene
Sign up for this newsletter now!

NAC gear comes in many pieces, and one of the most important to check out is the management platform.

One of the cornerstones of all NAC schemes is determining the posture of the device that is trying to gain network access. This is the data that is compared to security policies to help decide whether a device gains access.

NAC vendors sell client software that reports the status of the endpoint to a policy server. In the case of Microsoft, that client software is part of Vista.

Regardless, these clients need to tap into other client software platforms that keep track of endpoint status' that the NAC scheme cares about. These are, for example, antivirus clients and change-management clients that have data NAC clients need.

In checking out NAC products, customers should see how well their NAC client talks to these other platforms, says Joel Snyder, a member of Network World’s Lab Alliance and a partner in Opus One. Snyder is running a NAC seminar at Interop Las Vegas this week.

Desktop policies - which include antivirus updates and change management platforms and other software NAC needs to poll to make good decisions - are the province of the desktop team. That is a different group from the network or security team working on NAC.

The NAC team shouldn’t get involved in the desktop, Snyder notes, but the NAC team’s client software should be configurable to tap desktop software for status reports.

Snyder says this type of management is key and likely to be a weak link in NAC gear. Look for that when evaluating NAC options.

Partner Content

Brilliantly simple security and control solutions for email, web and endpoint

www.sophos.com

Stopping data leakage

Learn how to exploit your current security investment to control the information that flows into, through and out of your network.

Download the white paper.

Why detection rates aren't enough

Evaluating endpoint security products is a time-consuming and daunting task. Learn the six critical questions you need to ask to prospective vendors to get the right endpoint solution.

Download the white paper.

Unauthorized applications: Taking back control

Employees installing and using unauthorized applications like IM, VoIP, games and peer-to-peer file-sharing applications cause many businesses serious concern. How do you control these applications?

Download the white paper.

Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to moderator approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed
Save The Date!
What They Are Saying

All you guys are fighting about is the fact you can reset the routers. This was childs point. He created...- Daniel

Join the Discussion