You see this everyday. People in hallways, conference rooms, sitting outside the building, and they’re all using a mobile device. Everyone from the CEO down to the mail room clerk has some type of smart device that may or may not be connecting to the corporate network.
The consumerization of the enterprise has evolved quickly with emerging technologies such as smart mobile devices that are increasing both the productivity and the reach of employees. However, these gains create security challenges, both within and outside the traditional network perimeter.
IN DEPTH: Securing mobile devices requires enterprise and service provider controls
The perimeter itself is not disappearing; it’s just shifting. The progressive IT environment of today requires intelligence to determine: Which end users and what devices are on our network? Are the end users and devices in compliance with established policies prior to connection, and have they maintained compliance post-connection? Is there enterprisewide visibility into the current status of network devices, the endpoints and end users? Is there a common management view of relevant information and events in context, and the ability for automated enforcement of policies?
The Aberdeen Group recently released their May 2011 Analyst Insight entitled “What Your NAC Needs Now: Visibility, Integration and Control.” This report examines how organizations are dealing with the complexities of the increasingly mobile workspace, from the drivers for policy to the tools being implemented to manage their environments.
Not surprisingly, the report indicates that policy compliance is the No. 1 issue driving most organizations’ secure network initiatives. Close behind, however, are the pressures and risks from more end users, more endpoint devices, and more requirements from customers and partners — all of which speak to the growing diversity and complexity of the enterprise network environment.
According to the Aberdeen analysts, “The days of enterprise end users being largely synonymous with internal employees are over.” The report claims that for every 100 employees, there are another 27 temporary employees or contractors. Of this combined population, about 2 out of 5 (39%) are supported as mobile or remote users.
Then there is the external support factor. The report indicates that organizations which support business partners and guests on their network are adding another 20% to the total end user count that needs to be controlled or at least managed by the enterprise. This 20% figure is more than doubled when adding in support for the organization’s external customers.
Highlights of the Aberdeen report
More than one-third of endpoints within an organization are currently personally owned devices. This is a break from the traditional model where all devices on the network are company owned and the IT department has the ability to assess, monitor and control their use. More users, more endpoints, and more personally owned devices are changing the requirements that NACs were previously solving.
Also, there are 40% more devices than users now, as users are carrying multiple devices and have quickly changed the 1 to 1 model of the past. As a result, companies are looking for the market to provide tools that offer greater visibility, intelligence and control for all these devices.
Successfully managing the diversity of the enterprise’s computing platforms, network connectivity, applications and data — while simultaneously balancing the needs of multiple constituencies — requires an organization to have a greater degree of visibility, integration and control. This provides the intelligence needed to make the right decisions on how dynamic and how complex policies should be.
When it comes to the tools used to control their environments, organizations are showing a growing preference for a solution that provides holistic enterprisewide visibility along with integration with existing security infrastructure like firewalls, IPS/IDS and vulnerability scanners.
Best in class organizations expect a centralized view for network access data collection. This not only helps with everyday management, but provides a way to see a problem, fix it, and not waste time solving repetitive issues. Web-based management utilities and a distributed cluster model with enterprisewide visibility play well here. This also helps streamline the requirement for consistent policies — locations, access methods, users.
The study used a simple maturity model framework to identify the base characteristics of top and low performance. In summary, the analysis found:
• At the lowest level of maturity are organizations that solely utilize point solutions for network security, endpoint security and identity and access management, with these disciplines being managed independently with no integration and independent implementation of policies. As a result these organizations have less visibility into their environments and must expend greater resources in an effort to control their endpoints.
• At the highest level of maturity are organizations that actively pursue and implement tool sets that enable full integration of network devices, endpoint systems and end user identities. By doing so, these organizations have enterprisewide visibility based on the aggregation and correlation of relevant information and events. Further, they have the ability to automate the enforcement of flexible, multidimensional policies.
We talked with folks at Avenda Systems who say that Aberdeen’s research and report really highlight the latest trend: Today’s enterprise is looking for visibility, integration and control to successfully manage the mobility and diversity of the enterprise’s expanding computing platforms and user base.
If you’d like to read this Aberdeen Group Analyst Insight report, you can access it for free here.
Brian Musthaler is a principal consultant with Essential Solutions Corporation. You can write to him at Bmusthaler@essential-iws.com.
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About Essential Solutions Corp:
Essential Solutions researches the practical value of information technology, and how it can make individual workers and entire organizations more productive. Essential Solutions offers consulting services to computer industry and corporate clients to help define and fulfill the potential of IT.
