Incorporating the Security industry for a more co-ordinated defense

Cisco has initiated industry collaborations with leading security vendors as part of its strategy to engage and enable organisations to inherently secure and defend their communication networks from viruses, worms, hackers and other security threats.

For instance, when a PC plugs into a network, Cisco's network devices have the ability to interrogate the PC for third-party security vendor credentials. Should the posture match the security policy, the PC is allowed access, otherwise the PC will be quarantined.

The system which enables devices and endpoints to work collaboratively in this way is Cisco's Network Admission Control (NAC). This Cisco-led industry initiative combines the technology of Cisco with the expertise leading security vendors. It works by coordinating all the elements of the network in such a way as to ensure that every connecting endpoint or device complies fully with established security policy.

The Cisco Security Monitoring, Analysis and Response System (CS-MARS) extends the portfolio of security management products for Cisco and third-party vendor. It combines network intelligence, context correlation, vector analysis, anomaly detection, hotspot identification, and automated mitigation capabilities. The result is a system that helps customers to readily and accurately identify, manage, and eliminate network attacks and maintain network security compliance.

How does your business benefit?

• As NAC automates the enforcement of endpoint security from Cisco and other vendors (eg. Anti-virus), it greatly reduces the time and manpower needed to ensure security policies are maintained network-wide. This, in turn, increases productivity and reduces overheads.
• New threats that emerge are far less likely to intrude and spread within the network once they have been detected and isolated or contained