According to cio.com, IT executives (not IT professionals) often have misgivings about traditional security platforms such as firewalls and Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems IDSIPS. It argues, “That false sense of security can have IT executives not only disconnected with the reality of their security situations, but having a blind spot from what threats are really going on.”
This highlights the importance of network visibility in building any kind of reliable security apparatus. In the world of network security and management, visibility into events as and when they occur allows networking teams to react in real-time and take appropriate action. This can include alerting about or blocking a rogue device, monitoring user or device activity, creating audit and trail reports, trend spotting, forecasting or scanning for threats.
Network Access Control (NAC) is not a new concept. It’s been around for over a decade. It should enable organizations to answer: “Who is currently accessing my network?” and “Should they be there?” The problem is that many NAC solutions have been too difficult to deploy and both time and resource-consuming. This is why we’ve put together “Top 5 Most Common NAC Pitfalls ” whitepaper which outlines common challenges associated with conventional
NAC deployment available today.
In short, they are:
Appliances Everywhere:
- NAC implementations have a tendancy to become overly complex as networks expand and how to mitigate this risk with smart deployments.
Use Agents With Caution:
- Best practices to ensure network visibility remains at an optimum while working with agents, NTLM-based agents and “agentless” deployments.
Be Cautious of 802.1X:
- Looks at 802.1X and discusses its efficacy as a network visibility and endpoint management solution.
The other Kind of MAC:
- Security considerations around basing the security on MAC addresses and how to better manage them.
What You’re Still Not Seeing:
- The importance of end-to-end visibility in complex, multi-layered environments.
The above-mentioned are only a few considerations around the complex issue of network access control in an “always-on” culture.
Download the whitepaper now for the complete picture.
