McAfee reinvents Network Access Control by bridging endpoint and network solutions

McAfee has announced the world's first unified approach to solving the complex network access control (NAC) problem. McAfee's Unified Secure Access approach links endpoint and network security with access control and compliance and is centrally managed by McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator software which helps organisations ease the deployment and management of NAC. This third generation NAC offering is a key component of McAfee's endpoint and network security strategy, demonstrating McAfee's ability to deliver comprehensive enterprise solutions unmatched in the industry.

To date, most NAC solutions have been too complex, costly, inaccurate, hard to scale or not secure. Traditionally, installing NAC solutions required organisations to change their networks, policies and the way they do business. McAfee's Unified Secure Access approach adapts to the organisation's business and infrastructure while reducing operational cost, errors and complexity. Furthermore, its Adaptive Policy Technology surpasses existing NAC solutions by giving users the ability to easily tailor access controls to the particular situation resulting in increased security, reduced errors and lower operational cost.

"Enterprises have struggled to deploy current NAC solutions beyond one or two simple business scenarios," says Jeff Wilson, principal analyst, Network Security at Infonetics Research. "McAfee's Unified Secure Access is a great step forward in enforcement capability, but it still keeps management simple, enabling customers to handle many more scenarios without significantly increasing the management burden."

Customer surveys show that low error rates and security are the top two features required of any NAC solution. McAfee's Adaptive Policy Technology is squarely targeted at addressing these two issues with the ability to place the right access security measures in the appropriate situation.

"68% of organisations are evaluating or have deployed NAC. Our customers tell us most of the solutions on the market today have clearly identified the shortcomings with current NAC offerings and identified the need to integrate both network and endpoint," says Jayson O'Reilly, regional director: Africa (acting) of McAfee. "Similar to multi-layer protection from malware, having a multi-layered NAC solution is critical. Unified Secure Access is a cornerstone of McAfee's network security strategy and over 60 million McAfee endpoints already have the platform to implement a third generation NAC solution."

McAfee provides the most complete, flexible and manageable NAC solution available, designed to reduce operational cost and leverage existing investments. McAfee is the first to combine security, compliance and access control management, and to embed NAC into Intrusion Prevention. The solution is configurable depending upon a company's individual requirements. McAfee's Unified Secure Access includes the following components:

* McAfee Network Access Control 3.0 - A comprehensive system health and remediation solution with over 5 000 standard health checks, custom assessments and support for Microsoft NAP infrastructure. McAfee Network Access Control shares its check library with McAfee's Policy Auditor product and is included in Total Protection for Endpoint Advanced.
* McAfee Network Security Platform 5.1 - A powerful, high-performance intrusion prevention solution that offers the industry's most comprehensive threat prevention.
* McAfee NAC Module for Network Security Platform - This simple software add-on to the Network Security Platform adds critical in-line enforcement as well as identity- and application-based access control to existing NSP deployments.
* McAfee NAC Appliance - This network-class appliance is based on the Network Security Platform's powerful architecture and is ideal for situations that only require NAC in-line enforcement without advanced IPS features. The NAC Appliance offers a cost effective solution for all aspects of global deployments.
* ePolicy Orchestrator - complete visibility into endpoint and network risks made possible by McAfee's centralised management console.

All products are available today, except for the McAfee NAC.

Appliance, planned to ship in Q109. Pricing for the McAfee NAC Appliance will be available in Q109.