What Portnox CLEAR – Fall 2016 release has in store for cloud-based NAC

The complexity and risks of corporate networks are increasing on a daily basis. The growing flood of new devices, new form factors, and rapid changes in network architecture, coupled with a constant shortage of well-trained specialists, requires organizations to choose an IT vendor and partner that is able to keep pace with continuous change. Furthermore, the vendor or partner must constantly deliver new critical capabilities required by organizations to address new security challenges. Portnox CLEAR definitely falls under this category, carefully listening to customer needs, ever innovating, and constantly delivering IT security products.

With its Fall-2016 release, Portnox CLEAR offers several innovative solutions in the areas of end-point risk assessment and secure network access:

Radical simplification of 802.1X deployment and management

It is no secret that implementation of network access control based on 802.1X protocol is a very complex task. That is why Portnox CLEAR is constantly innovating and delivering solutions for simplifying 802.1x usage, and in its latest release takes a big leap forward by introducing the following new features:

• • Advanced on-boarding capabilities for employees, contractors and guests on 802.1X protected networks by providing alternative methods of authorizing new device access: centralized onboarding by CLEAR administrators and self-onboarding by the end user.

 

• Ability to on-board devices and access 802.1X networks without having to install an end-point agent (“agentless access”).

 

 

• Flexible and granular management of MAC Authentication Bypass (“MAB”) for devices lacking 802.1X supplicants, especially IoT devices

 

 

• Ability to use Portnox CLEAR itself as an alternate user repository for managing and authenticating access to protected networks, without having to integrate with any on-prem users repositories

 

Find out more about Portnox CLEAR

Full-blown integration with Open LDAP

Open LDAP has already earned recognition as a possible alternative for Active Directory in many organizations, and Portnox CLEAR now introduces full-blown integration with Open LDAP in various scenarios:

• • Ability to authenticate 802.1X and VPN access vis-a-vis Open LDAP repositories
  • Group management based on Open LDAP groups

 

• Ability to on-board an end-point device and to manage the device life cycle based on Open LDAP accounts

 

Cloud-based, cost effective and unique 2FA approach

Compromised and stolen credentials remain the main threat to corporate data, and remote access by VPN is the most vulnerable method of access due to compromised employee’s credentials. The need for flexible and extremely easy to implement two factor authentication (“2FA”) schemes has become crucial for organizations of any size. Portnox CLEAR is now offering a cloud-based, cost effective and unique 2FA approach for remote access:

• • The ability to define the VPN authentication flow both as regard the order and as regards the type of Primary and Strong factors being used

 

• A unique strong factor based on device enrollment and the ability to authorize device access along with identity authorization (“risk-based access”)

 

Portnox CLEAR offers those and many other capabilities for real-time access control and risk assessment as part of its entire SaaS offering, which is fully subscription based and does not require deployment of any on-premise software or appliances. With its Fall-2016 release, Portnox CLEAR demonstrates again its leadership and unparalleled innovation as already recognized by the latest award from Frost and Sullivan.

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