Through the management and control of network access, Network Access Control (NAC) solutions improve network security.
Two important kinds are post-admission, which necessitates reauthentication for lateral network movement, and pre-admission, which assesses access attempts against security standards prior to permitting admittance. By centralising policy enforcement, NAC systems frequently make use of IEEE 802.1x protocols. Visibility analytics, guest management, and endpoint profiling are features of contemporary NACs.
In addition to providing incident response capabilities and interaction with other security solutions, they support BYOD and IoT. Data collection, identity management, policy creation, testing, and ongoing monitoring are all necessary for an efficient NAC installation.
Types Of Network Access Control
- Preadmission: Prior to initiating their request to secure access to the Network by user or device, this step analyses attempts for access by evaluating them against organisation-defined security policies and only permitting entry if users or devices comply.
- Post admission: Reauthentication occurs within a network when users or devices attempt to gain entry to different parts of it, restricting lateral movement by necessitating authentication each time an access request comes through from outside its domain.
What Is A NAC Solution?

NAC solutions rely on NAC policies defined and administered from a central policy-server and enforced across a wide range of network infrastructure.
Additional servers may be employed for authorisation, authentication and accounting needs; most commercial NAC solutions utilise IEEE 802.1x protocols as means to authenticate users before applying the necessary policies; they often utilise proprietary software as their policy server and endpoint agent software respectively.
The Enterprise Network Infrastructure market is expected to generate US$55.97 billion in sales by 2024, according to Statista.
Early network access control solutions were focused on policy management and enforcement; modern ones expand on this with features such as endpoint profiling, guest management and BYOD environments support as well as visibility analytics capabilities.
Many products blur the distinctions between network access control solutions (NAC) and other security products by being sold or promoted as integrated security packages.
Why Invest In A NAC Solution?
Modern network security may leave out many of the key protocols and standards at the core of computer networking, like Ethernet's connectivity function without an authentication mechanism.
Thus my lack of identity verification to access my wired in-room network - but Network Access Control (NAC) changes this equation by adding defined conditions that devices must meet to gain entry.
NAC solutions can play an invaluable role in strengthening network security. By accommodating Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD), as well as the Internet of Things, these systems address Bring Your Own Devices as well as advanced zero-day threats while segmenting production traffic from guest traffic for easier provisioning of VoIP phones.
Network control can best be demonstrated using corporate wifi networks. Your family and friends likely use one shared key at home to connect multiple devices to wifi; when scaled up for large enterprises this model becomes even riskier as users will most likely share passwords publicly and any breaches could require changing them all at once.
NAC allows employees (or devices) to authenticate uniquely and provides a more robust method for tracking all logins in case of attacks on the network.
What Are The General Capabilities Of A Network Access Control Solution?
Utilising solutions for network access control, these capabilities may be utilised to control network access:
Guest Networking Access: Provide guests with self-service networking access that includes guest authentication, Network Guest Sponsorship/Registration/Beneficiation and management portal capabilities.
Security posture test: Used to analyse compliance with security policies across devices and users.
Incident Response: In this step, security policies that can identify, block and isolate non compliant machines are employed to mitigate advanced threats on networks without administrator intervention or intervention from being utilized as incident response tools.
Bidirectional Integration: Access control can easily integrate with other security and network solutions by taking advantage of an open RESTful API.
Policy Life-Cycle Management: Enforce policy across all operating scenarios without needing additional modules or products.
Profiler and Visibility: Recognising users and devices and creating profiles before malicious code causes any damage can create profiles preventing potential problems from emerging.
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What Is A Policy For Network Access Control?

Policies provide significant network access control advantages. Instead of manually authorising/denying access for each device and user individually, an admin can define conditions that determine access based on policies instead.
NAC doesn't need to be all or nothing; advanced policies could grant contractors and guests varying resource levels of network access than full-time staff; devices could even be "quarantined", only giving enough secure access for them to update software updates or take corrective actions without impacting other parts of your internal network.
Most network access control systems utilize a policy-based approach that offers great flexibility and scalability.
Administrators have access to add or edit policies at any given time, as well as change access rules instantly on thousands of devices almost instantaneously - this ability becomes especially helpful in dealing with fast-moving threats such as ransomware or worms such as WannaCry and NotPeyta; organisations can greatly mitigate their security risk by isolating unpatched machines to minimise potential exposure risks.
There Are Different Types Of Network Access Control

NAC solutions come in various forms and each may operate differently, however there are two primary approaches for network control enforcement:
Pre-Admission Control- applies Network Access Control policy before authorising access for devices on a network, disallowing devices that don't meet specific policy criteria from entering.
Pre-admission controls are commonly implemented when setting up NAC solutions.
Post-admission control (PAC)- allows networks to implement network access control (NAC) policies after devices have gained entry to them, whether this means sending suspicious traffic or connecting to external resources that shouldn't have access or updating policies to account for emerging security threats.
Configuring an NAC network requires placing mechanisms that facilitate decision-making and enforcement within its confines.
Out-of-band solutions typically use a policy server which does not interact directly with network traffic. Instead, this server communicates to network infrastructure devices like switches and routers as well as wireless access points so they may apply NAC policies allowing or restricting traffic based on specific conditions.
Inline NAC solutions combine decision-making and rule enforcement at one point within normal traffic flow to form inline NAC solutions, potentially becoming resource-intensive on large networks that may adversely impact performance if something goes amiss.
Use Cases For Network Access Control

NAC can be used in a number of ways, but the following are some of the most common:
NAC For Guests And Partners
Many organisations must grant outside parties access to their networks, including vendors, partners and guests.
NAC solutions facilitate this access while still protecting network segregation - non-employees may register via captive portal or receive Internet-only access; either option prevents them from accessing internal resources.
NAC for BYOD
Today's organisations must deal with both managed devices and mobile devices on their network infrastructure, making BYOD less of an insecure phenomenon if network access control is properly implemented.
You can set access control rules to only permit patched, secured devices into your virtual local area network (VLAN), while unmanaged ones could be restricted within their own virtual local area network or network segment.
NAC for IoT
NAC solutions can simplify tasks while improving security. Printers, VoIP phones and IoT-enabled devices often belong in separate network slices (especially phones that employ quality of service settings to maintain call quality), but NAC solutions with their extensive profiling abilities enable automation of steering IoT devices into VLANs without manual provisioning - another helpful feature against shadow IT or rogue access points.
NAC For Incident Response
NAC can be an indispensable asset during all phases of incident response. Policies can quickly be adjusted on-demand to address an ongoing ransomware attack or data breach; in addition, many security implementations provide high visibility into network traffic that would not otherwise exist - an invaluable benefit when investigating and remediating an incident.
Many IT vendors provide solutions that go well beyond traditional NAC solutions, providing intelligent artificial intelligence capabilities and integrations that enable their most sophisticated offerings to quickly detect anomalous network traffic faster than an analyst can.
Instance leverages event and user behavior analytics in vast data sets in order to detect behavioral deviations that require further attention.
Five Steps To Implement NAC Solutions

Network access control should not be purchased hastily; rather, proper planning, implementation and tuning must occur for maximum effectiveness.
As you begin the implementation process for network access control solutions, these steps could prove valuable.
Gathering Data
Before restricting access, its necessary to understand how users are accessing your network. What devices are they connecting through? Does their current access level serve a business purpose? Besides phones, don't forget about servers, printers and IoT devices in this list as well!
Identity Management: Catch Up With The Latest Updates
As with many organisations, if your plan involves including an authentication component in their Network Access Control policy then identity management needs to be prioritised and handled efficiently.
Otherwise, new hires could struggle with accessing HR databases due to discordant active directory servers; and without de-provisioning employees who left six months ago (unless that employee remained under your care), your NAC solution wont do its job either!
Access Levels And Permissions Can Be Determined
Your network access controls (NAC) capabilities should be implemented according to your desired strategy. In an ideal world, this would include adhering strictly to the principle of minimum privileges - restricting users only to network resources they require in order to do their work - but in practice large networks often lack sufficient segmentation so implementing role-based access control systems could offer a good compromise between security and convenience.
Test Your Setup
Most Network Access Control solutions (NACs) feature "monitor mode", which enables administrators to assess policy impacts prior to enforcement and identify any problems before they become major support issues.
Testing should always occur both before and after changes have been implemented to your NAC policy.
Monitor And Tune
Security controls such as network access control must evolve alongside your organisation and threats it faces, so ensure you have sufficient resources available to you in order to continually optimise and monitor its solution.
What To Look For When Choosing A NAC Solution

NAC solutions come in a wide variety that cover an extensive array of deployment models, use cases and organisational sizes.
There is no "best" or "right" solution as there may be several variations available that work better for one company than for the next; when investigating various solutions ask yourself these questions:
Is It Compatible With Our Existing Infrastructure
Your organisation might benefit from taking an inventory of existing solutions in order to narrow your search, which should help narrow it further.
It makes sense if you've invested heavily in networking gear from one particular vendor to ensure all components work seamlessly; although 802.1x itself is open-standards compliant, many features touted by vendors might not function in a mixed-environment.
Does It Work With The Network Architecture We Have?
Early Network Access Control solutions were intended for large wired corporate networks as their focus, while wireless and remote access have since become common in modern networks.
Some solutions may prove more suited to specific network environments.
What Are The Use Cases That It Best Aligns With?
Network access control solutions all share one goal - giving users the power to decide which devices can access their entire network.
However, support for different use cases varies significantly: for guest access you may require captive portals, self-registration and segmentation capabilities while IoT scenarios and BYOD may call for solutions with strong device profiling and posture capabilities.
Is It Scalable?
NAC solutions may scale differently depending on their vendor or deployment model, with busy networks often needing inline access control that does not scale well due to its inline nature; as an independent product or component of existing network infrastructure (if used to enforce NAC).
If that occurs it could place undue strain on older routers and switches.
How Much Will It Cost You?
Price and pricing models should be given careful consideration if your organisation anticipates having many BYOD devices.
Some NAC solutions offer tiered pricing models such as device or user, flat rate pricing or perpetual licensing and subscription models; scaling may also play an essential part in providing high availability; some solutions require multiple policy server instances while others may use less instances per endpoint than another solution would support.
How to Implement a NAC Solution

Take A Look At Your Network
An initial network audit should always include all servers, network devices and user PCs within your organization as well as anything that has access to digital assets.
NAC would struggle without this data available; system admins would spend considerable time and energy installing and troubleshooting their solutions.
User Identities
At your organisation, ensuring users can manage their credentials and identities is of critical importance.
An internal directory system should verify user identities while all account details should be available so you can assign permissions or roles accordingly.
Designing Policies
PoLP stands for "Principle of Least Priority", and means only giving users access to what is essential for performing daily tasks.
This step is critical as you don't want your systems exposed through security holes that you might not even be aware of - all security teams need to work collaboratively towards building structures which allow everyone safe network access.
You Can Apply For Permissions
Once your permissions have been determined, once imported your permission policies or integrated your directory system will import seamlessly into the NAC system for easy management and tracking of valid users and their activities; any unauthorised access will be blocked at the edge of your network.
Maintaining Policies
Access control management requires ongoing supervision by network admins in order to remain effective over time and meet business demands and network development.
They should continually assess security operations while updating policies as per business demands or network development.
Compare Five NAC Solutions And Products

NAC comes in many variations; let's review five most frequently chosen ones here:
- Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)- Cisco was an early innovator of network access control solutions and continues to lead this field today. Cisco ISE seamlessly integrates with other ecosystem components within their ecosystem for segmentation, visibility and automated responses - as well as traditional NAC functionality - within NAC solutions.
- Ivanti Policy Secure (formerly Pulse Policy Secure) - Ivantis NAC solution offers compatibility with numerous third-party products and provides all of the expected functions such as policy management, profiling visibility analytics and behavioral analytics that come standard on modern platforms for network access control.
- Aruba ClearPass- Aruba ClearPass can be found being utilised in hospitality and educational environments alike, often when coupled with wireless networking products from Aruba itself. Its integration between hardware and software provides real-time visibility of how devices are being utilised on networks.
- FortiNAC- Signature products may be its firewalls, but the company also sells network access controls under this name - known as FortiNAC. FortiNAC stands out among competitors by featuring profiling techniques spanning millions of devices as well as supporting network equipment from 150 vendors.
- Portnox CLEAR- stands apart from traditional NAC vendors by providing both on-premise and cloud NAC platforms that leverage software-as-a-service delivery models, along with cloud authentication and policy servers. Organisations looking for simplified dial-in authentication user service servers might consider Portnox an appealing choice.
Best Practices In Network Access Control

In order to protect your network from threats, you need a robust network access control system. These six best practices can help you get started on the right track:
Research
Check that the NAC option you choose is appropriate for your network's requirements. Full awareness of both within and outside devices, including Internet of Things devices, with integrated tools for enforcement and adaptive regulatory controls, as well as industry-specific capabilities and network capacity requirements, may be necessary for modern enterprises.
Set Benchmarks For Device Access
With the help of your network access control, you should be able to keep an eye on how many devices are using your network each day and create a starting point that is precise enough to identify any irregularities in real time.
Adopt A Permission Structure Based On Identity
Make sure everyone in your network is able to verify their identity. Create permissions depending on the identity of each individual.
Access should only be granted to those areas that are absolutely necessary to support everyday work. Additional rights may always be introduced later. Staying cautious will considerably lower the risks associated with cyber threats.
Establish Special Guest Controls
Similar to guests, handling visitors may call for greater specificity. Establish limits for those who aren't considered full members and grant varying degrees of privilege according to their requirements; for example, an outside salesperson might just need restricted access, while a contractor would need longer access.
Monitor Alerts Continuously By IT Staff
NAC systems are made to warn you to potential data breaches by informing you of any unusual network activity that occurs on the network.
At least one IT professional should be tasked with handling NAC alerts to prevent loss of data and maintain the privacy of critical corporate information. For bigger networks with numerous endpoints, additional support may be required for the efficient management of NAC alerts.
Reports Should Be Pulled Regularly
By monitoring both historical and present network activity, you may better prepare for audits and give important stakeholders information about how well your NAC solution is safeguarding their network.
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Conclusion
In the end, one of the most important steps in guaranteeing the security and integrity of a company's network infrastructure is the implementation of network access control (NAC) solutions.
NAC solutions provide the necessary tools and mechanisms to control and manage access to the NAC network, stopping unapproved people or devices from entering.
This lessens possible dangers, guards against security lapses, and protects sensitive data. Businesses can monitor network traffic, authenticate individuals effectively devices, and enforce security standards by putting NAC solutions into place.
This lowers the possibility of harmful activity or unauthorised access by enabling a greater degree of oversight over who and what is accessing the network.
Organisations may enforce adherence to industry standards, regulatory requirements, and safeguarding procedures by using NAC solutions. Additionally, NAC systems can divide the web page into secure, separate regions for different kinds of users or departments.This reduces the potential harm in the case of a breach and lessens the proliferation of threats within the network.
To offer a thorough and multi-layered security strategy, NAC solutions also frequently interface with additional safety technologies like detection of intrusions and firewalls.