Organisations are increasingly outsourcing internal functions, operations, and external services, meaning contractors, partners, or temporary workers need to access the company network.
But network security problems can arise when you bring in third parties to access corporate resources. Third-party user access needs to be managed separately and without clients.
When users request remote access to NAC portals, the system immediately checks their credentials. NAC regulates the areas of the network users can access - while monitoring and logging their activity - and enforce these policies, limiting an individual to just those systems. Sensitive resources like client databases can be kept off-limits to unauthorised users. Malicious actors will also struggle to move laterally throughout networks, limiting the dangers posed by malware attacks.
NAC can drastically improve an organisation's network security posture by allowing for greater control over what devices are accessing the network and what they can access. NAC also will enable companies to admit guest users securely, and secure guest access allows collaboration with partners and contractors while keeping security threats low. The solution should never be more complicated than the original problem. It should follow sound engineering principles to reduce the attack surface and mitigate risk — not just at a device or network level, but also at a user level.
NAC delivers advantages throughout the organisation
The CEO
Return on Investment (ROI)
- Leverage your existing network infrastructure to enforce your organisation's policies
- Get more value out of your current investments (in addition to other benefits of NAC)
Regulatory Compliance
- Be able to track and report on all users and devices accessing your network resources
- Provide detailed "audit trails" in the event of compliance audits
Benefits for End-Users - Easy technology frees people up to work anytime, anywhere.
- No need for users to take devices into the office or get IT to do any setup
- With the user-friendly app, users can self-serve certificate requests on their device
- Proactive notifications prompt users before their certificate expires, no downtime
Benefits for IT Managers - Operational efficiency
- Simplified and automated manual and labour-intensive IT functions
- Off-load tasks from IT and Help Desk to increase their productivity
- Prevents unauthorised network access with straightforward and powerful (short-life) certificate management – even on unmanaged and BYO devices
- Self-enrolment drastically reduces deployment time
Flexible and seamless integration - supporting your business
A weakness of many NAC solutions is their hardware dependence caused by proprietary protocols and applications. Such vendor lock-ins are tedious: they stop you from getting the optimum solution you want.
First, when managing user access, focus on tools that offer native integration with your existing software. You don't want to change your infrastructure or network design to bring the NAC solution online.
NAC should address the many dimensions of scale and help future-proof your business, not only support growth by adding more licences. The ideal NAC solution:
- scales for increased usage and spikes
- scales for more sophisticated use cases
- the technology is enterprise-ready on a global scale
- the technology scales to help ease other common growing pains
NAC is a foundational network security defence
Many breaches and data theft occur behind firewalls, making NAC a critical component of a multilayered security policy. But organisations need to understand that NAC is not a silver bullet that can protect their network against all types of threats; instead, when used along with other systems to ensure complete network access protection. It doesn't take the place of a firewall and won't protect against data leaving through e-mail, printouts, or USB flash drives. Rather than avoiding risk completely, you should be in control of security risks and open up the necessary resources to your users and foster a non-intrusive, happy workplace.
NAC is more than a security solution; it helps create a productive working environment for your team and an impressive, seamless experience for your guests. It is your first line of defence for IT Security.
