Network Access Control is the most significant security development since the introduction of the firewall. In today’s organization of fluid network perimeters, everyone needs access control; but many don’t have the financial or technical resources to deploy it.
Many organizations already reap the advantages of managed services for security components, such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems. NAC as a managed service allows customers to leverage NAC experts and the benefits of a full-cycle NAC solution, a fundamental element of any security architecture, without incurring the cost and risk of deploying a new technology across an organization.
A growing number of organizations do not have the internal resources, expertise, or budget required to proactively manage, maintain, and monitor their security infrastructure. NAC as a managed service eases the strain on overstretched IT departments and budgets, where a fully featured NAC solution is offered with maintenance and immediate response by the provider. With this service, organizations can leverage the security expertise that comes from years of product support, policy tuning, and compliance management.
Most security solutions never obtain their intended potential after they are purchased. This is often due to the ongoing care and maintenance required to ensure that the system stays operational. Other factors may include:
- Product training & Learning curve
- Limited staffing to maintain the solution
- Lack of security or deployment best practices
- Experience with analysis and triage of potential incidents
- Amount of time it takes for deployment
- Not devoting time to constantly perform fine tuning
- Managed services providers can offload the burden and staffing expense of these tasks, by devoting specialized support, management, and compliance expertise to augment an organization’s IT security staff.
By leveraging a managed security service provider for NAC, organizations can be assured that the company is being effectively protected and that investments made in security technology produce the maximum return on Investment. The benefits of NAC as a managed service include:
Limited or zero upfront cost
- Simple monthly fee
- Includes hardware, maintenance & support
Speed & ease of provisioning (utility model)
- Plug in to an existing security fabric
- Leverage deployment by experts
Minimized complexity
- Define policy to be implemented by experts
- Receive periodic updates of your network security status
Best practices vs. trial & error testing
- Use processes that have been repeated
- Avoid being the guinea pig
Real Value
- Augment IT staff with subject matter experts
- Meet Compliance Requirements (Sox, HIPAA, GLBA, PCI, etc.)
- Automate critical manual & tedious tasks
- Service level agreements for your business
NAC as a managed service is a way for organizations to reap the benefits of security best practices without the typical drain on budget and staff. Organizations around the world are already taking advantage of NAC as a managed service. Any organization that is seeking better protection for the network interior should consider NAC managed services vs. purchasing, deploying and managing a NAC solution internally.
Trent Fitz is vice-president, marketing at Mirage Networks.