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Lack of knowledge about network introduces risks

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DQI Bureau
New Update

What is the capability at Juniper that makes network

access control important?



The capabilities we have built at Juniper allows us to detect machines which

have been infected when they connect to the corporate network which also

involves automated remediation. In some cases, it is not possible to do the

remediation but in lot of other cases it is possible. For example, if somebody

is downloading patches and the machine shuts off, while they were away, they can

come back and turn it on. However, the chances of infection are very high in

such a case. Before the machines are patched, they can be infected. With NAC

technology, the machine has to go through a health check-up process and user has

to be authenticated and verified that they are allowed on the network, before

they get an IP address. If the user is allowed access and the machine is not

healthy, the machine can be automatically remediated. It might require a manual

remediation from the IT department. Juniper is focused on solutions that are

based on high performance networks. The real concept, here, is that if the

network is strategic to the companies, they should make sure that they have high

quality network and security equipment. We enable organizations to have greater

capabilities for the money they are spending. One thing that we emphasize in our

product is interoperability.

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PC users are used to turning off the security updates.

What is the way out of this?



We have a mechanism which can detect things like turning off firewall or

anti-virus automatically. We quarantine till the problem is resolved. We can

have a white list and a black list of applications. There are several health

checks that we can do on the machine, and we can do it each time the machine is

connected to a corporate network whether wireless, wired, or remote access. The

remote access machines which could be home machines are the ones which are

likely to be infected. We got involved in this health checks through Junipers

SSL VPN products.

Working from home is something which has not taken-off due

to security issues. Your thoughts on this issue.

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There are certain things that cannot be accessed from

home, but there are several other things that can be, so as to improve

productivity of such employees. For example, during the current times, when H1N1

has become almost an epidemic, it makes more sense to let employees work from

home, so that they remain safe. I think SSL VPN is the safest way to enable

those working from home as there is no need of a client to sit on the machine.

What are the key trends in the network security space?



There is a lack of realization about who is on the network, and that it

introduces risks. A lot of organizations are realizing that several devices are

on their network, and they are not aware about most of them. This is dangerous

because these unmanaged devices can become sources of infection as they are not

patched and monitored. Most organizations do not have any network access control

in place. Even in the wireless scenario, it is typical to have shared passwords

that everybody knows, especially if they are using simple wireless protocols

like WEP.

Sudesh Prasad



sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in

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