University Business - March 2008 - (Page 55) Endpoint software-based solutions, the approach taken by Temple U in Philadelphia (above), are the least intrusive type of NAC tool for unauthenticated users trying to access the network. Infrastructure-based NAC tools are helping Bridgewater State College (Mass.) networks to avoid getting snowed by viruses. NLIKE CORPORATIONS, HIGHER EDU cation institutions face unique challenges with IT security. As students arrive each semester with their own computers, many times their security devices are off, their anti-virus software is gone or simply outdated, and odd configurations abound. “The challenge has always been how to take student laptops and bring them to a certain minimum level of health,” says Steve Hanna, distinguished engineer at Juniper Networks and co-chair of the Trusted Network Connect Work Group, part of the nonprofit industry standards organization Trusted Computing Group. “It’s important to identify machines whose defenses aren’t up to snuff and get them fixed so you can have a stable network.” Not to mention, the open information-sharing environment of a university encourages all kinds of people outside the campus to access the network as well. universitybusiness.com U The business driver for Network Access (or Admission) Control (NAC) focuses on protecting information resources on the network, which face growing security risks. It involves policies such as preadmission endpoint security policy checks and postadmission controls over where users and devices can go on a network. NAC in the education world primarily focuses on dealing with studentowned assets and access control issues on an open network. Hanna says NAC relieves the “first-week phenomenon” when students move in by automating the health check and remediation process. The NAC approach aims to keep student laptops healthy and maintained throughout the year. For that reason, Hanna believes it’s easy to justify the purchase of an NAC tool in a campus environment. “The burden placed on the IT staff in the first week of school— it’s just impossible to meet successfully,” Hanna says. “You can’t take thousands of students through a manual process checking their machines … but yet you also can’t feasibly deal with the March 2008 | 55 http://universitybusiness.com
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