Cisco NAC Appliance gets some new features

Cisco recently released version 4.1(3) of their NAC Appliance product line. 4.1(3) has a slew of new features in it that I thought you might be interested in. The most noteworthy, to me anyway, is the addition of a web agent client delivered via java or activeX. This web agent client does not require admin privileges to run, unlike the traditional clean access agent. Another nice new feature is auto-remediation for a requirement action. So, if a user fails a NAC policy check and auto-remediation is enabled, then the NAC agent will perform the required remediation action. This is done in the background and does not require the user to click or do anything. Auto-remediation works with Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware definition updates, Windows updates, launching a program, URL link distribution, and Windows Server Update Services(WSUS). Several upgrades to the way NAC Appliance handles guest login and registration were made. Quoting from the Cisco release notes this is what it adds: Release 4.1(3) enhances the way the CAM handles Guest user login, registration, and access with a new Guest Registration feature. Rather than allow users to simply gain undifferentiated Guest access to the system, the administrator can now configure guest users to register their own local accounts on the CAM using a variety of fields, including email, phone number, or affiliation. The new feature provides a customizable level of guest authentication using a new Guest Auth Server Type, new Guest Registration configuration pages, and the default guest role. The CAM can automatically time out guest accounts using token expiration, or flush out unused guest accounts from the local database after a configurable number of days. Administrators can view newly created guest accounts on a new Guest Users local users list, and on the Certified Device List and Online Users List by configured Guest Auth Provider and Guest role. Those are some of the big items that were added in this latest minor release of NAC Appliance. For a complete list see the release notes here http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/nac/appliance/release_notes/413/413rn.html#wp301991 The opinions and information presented here are my personal views not those of my employeer.