CALIFORNIA, USA: Network access control (NAC) technology has evolved significantly since it first emerged and is now capable of far more, such as protecting networks from inside attacks and unmanaged devices.

This is according to market research firm Infonetics Research's whitepaper, 'The Evolution of Network Access Control'.

Deploy it now: Network access control

Jeff Wilson, principal analyst, security, Infonetics Research and author of the white paper, said: “Network access control has changed a lot in the last six years, and many companies are missing out on what NAC can do for them because they're thinking of 2003 NAC instead of 2009 NAC."

"Today’s NAC solutions gather more data, provide more information, and fit more use cases. Advances in the intelligence of NAC solutions have transformed NAC from a simple tool for preventing the spread of malware to a rich source of knowledge and a powerful security policy enforcement engine,” explains Wilson.

The Evolution of NAC paper identifies a wide range of security problems that can be addressed by next- generationNAC solutions, including, but not limited to:

Providing guest network access
Controlling where employees and contractors can go on the network
Enforcing security policy (antivirus, patch levels, applications, process, and registry files)
Generating endpoint compliance audit reports
Remediating systems that are non-compliant
Managing removable storage
Providing visibility into who and what is on your network
Preventing malicious activity

The Evolution of NAC paper identifies a wide range of security problems that can be addressed by next generation NAC solutions, including, but not limited to:

Stopping threats from propagating
Increasing overall corporate security posture
Protecting against loss of sensitive/personal information
Controlling network access based on user identity and role