With billions of devices now connecting to networks, the sharing of highly sensitive data creates new opportunities for information to be compromised. From connected healthcare devices, to smart buildings, to remote asset monitoring in manufacturing, all are powered by a growing diversity of networking technologies, creating substantial new security risks.
Coupled with the explosion in BYOD (bring your own device) and hybrid cloud environments bringing added threat opportunities, trusting antivirus tools or firewalls is simply not enough to secure the connected infrastructure and systems in today’s world of cyber attacks and data breaches.
Organisations need to mitigate risk with a zero trust network approach, strict policy enforcement, increased user/device visibility, and complete network control.
The zero trust network approach assumes that there will always be users or devices looking to attack, and that no user, and no device, should be automatically trusted.
Modern businesses need secure access solutions built around the zero trust model of continuous verification and authorisation – enforcing verification and validation whenever a user or device requests access, with the ability to control those devices and users. Network access control (NAC) is therefore essential to keep unauthorised users & devices OUT of private networks.
A Network Access Control (NAC) solution, such as that from Fortinet, gives optimum visibility and control to organisations. It stores the organisation’s access policies and applies them to every access request that is submitted.
Therefore it can be configured to enforce a zero trust security policy, to deny access to users or devices and place them in quarantine, not only protecting the network but also ensuring regulatory compliance.
3 steps to securing your network:
- Verify users when they sign on:
verification applies whether or not the device or user is already within the network as it can be triggered by events such as changes in the devices being used, location, log-in frequency, or the number of failed login attempts. - Validate devices before they access networks:
ensure all devices meet the criteria of the security policy in order to gain full access to internal resources. - Limit privileged access:
only giving the essential access to the resources they need, limiting entry to sensitive data or infrastructure
To find a suitable NAC solution, look for a platform that can integrate with your existing software as you don’t have to change your infrastructure in order to implement a NAC platform.
Experts in Zero Trust Networks
Here at Infosec Partners we have more than 15 years experience implementing mission-critical data security, risk, and compliance programs across global enterprises, local government, healthcare providers and sports organisations to name a few.
As technology and vendor agnostic cyber experts, we support any-vendor-any-device, so we are best placed to always recommend, and if required, manage the best solution set for you.
And as a Fortinet UK Partner of Excellence, we can advise on and support Fortinet’s leading security applications. FortiNac is Fortinet’s innovative network access control solution, providing visibility, control, and an automated response for everything that connects to the network. FortiNAC is specially designed to integrate with over 150 vendor products to help complete your cybersecurity strategy, and it has recently earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 Growth Excellence Leadership Award for focusing on the needs of the rapidly changing NAC market.
If you WANT Zero Trust Networking, then you NEED Network Access Control. Get in touch with the Infosec Partners team to discuss how a zero trust network access strategy can strengthen your network security infrastructure.
