Maximize visibility into who or what is attempting to access your network.
View ProductsNetwork Control (NAC) is the process of leveraging security protocols such as endpoint monitoring and identity and access management (IAM) to maximize control over who or what can access a proprietary network.
Often, there are systems on a network that simply do not receive the same level of visibility as others. Therefore, those become easier access points for a threat actor to breach a network. According to Forrester, “security and risk pros need to address problems introduced by a mobile and remote workforce incentivized by cloud integrations. NAC solutions were and still are viewed as complex and costly to deploy effectively.”
Obviously, NAC can and will often look different for each organization. Therefore, let’s take a look at two different types of the process:
This type of NAC cybersecurity control ensures a person, system, or device that wishes to access a network is checked out before they actually do so. IAM authentication procedures can be leveraged during this process to ensure no one or thing is granted access to a network that doesn’t have a right to be there.
This type of NAC control essentially “follows” an authenticated user around the network, continuously verifying their credentials to ensure they aren’t admitted to a part or segment of the network they don’t need in order to do their job or complete a task. In this way, if a threat actor were to gain access to a particular segment, they would be walled off in that segment, protecting the larger network.
You need NAC because of the amount of threat actors looking to brute-force their way onto a network via low or unmonitored access points. Visibility and automation are necessary to be able to cover the large scale of many enterprise networks, and an NAC solution can offer protection in these areas.
The inherent benefits of this type of security solution include:
So, how exactly would an NAC solution help to fortify security posture and contain threats? An NAC program’s specific capabilities are many, and can ultimately help to unite authentication protocols, endpoint configuration, and overall access to an enterprise environment.
When it comes to searching out an NAC solution for your specific environment, Gartner® states that “an organization should evaluate the following capabilities":
In addition to these capabilities, it’s important to remember that compliance – as noted above – is critical and is also a moving target. In order to maintain the efficacy of an NAC solution’s capabilities, it’s a good idea for security practitioners to conduct periodic assessments and audits.
Scheduling regular network assessments and audits can ensure compliance with secure configurations, password policies, and access network control requirements. Assessing network security against internally constructed benchmarks can also help mitigate threats.
NAC solutions are ubiquitous and they can do different things depending on the specific environment of the security organization looking to leverage its capabilities. Let’s take a look at some of the more common use cases.
As a workforce brings more IoT devices onto the corporate network, IT teams must keep pace to try and ensure they are operating securely on the network. Automating this process can streamline operations in this area, helping to authenticate each device and determine if its reason for accessing the network is valid.
From the beginning of the BYOD trend, it's been an ongoing evolution of how to balance the benefits with the risks that arise from letting your employees and partners use their own devices on the internal or corporate network. Powerful NAC solutions like authentication protocols and multi-step verification technologies have helped to ensure security while these devices are accessing the network.
When it comes to vendors, we’ll assume you’ve thoroughly vetted these partners and entrusted a portion of your business practices and services to their care. This means each of these providers will need at least a degree of access to your corporate network, with network segmentation helping to facilitate that access as well as protecting the network as a whole.
You implement network access control by adhering to some stringent best practices that will help ensure the solution has its best chance to protect the organization.