INTELLIGENT MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
How enterprise security can adapt
to requirements of mobility
The growing challenges of managing end user owned mobile devices on corporate
networks can be successfully met through policy management platforms explains
Ahmed Rezk at Aruba HPE.
N
avigating the landscape of
enterprise security can be
daunting, threats typically fly
under the radar, and the broad array of
malware, hacks and data theft shows
real innovation. Worse, the level of
malicious sophistication is also on the
upswing. In tandem, corporate users
enjoy communicating, computing and
transacting business on a variety of wired
and wireless networks, using multiple
devices. And the threat vectors continue to
grow, exponentially.
Consequently, IT departments are
turning to policy management platforms
that give them visibility into who and what
is connecting to their networks, with ways
to measure and predict. They seek security
management that is both adaptive to how
people work and is easily customised.
44
And they want a management interface
that accommodates wireless and remote
users, as well as emerging technologies
and services like cloud computing and the
Internet of Things.
This is much more than ticking off boxes
on a specification sheet – CISOs, CSOs
and security professionals are demanding
a fully integrated, multi-vendor approach
for security management. Consequently,
management platforms have to deliver
a number of critical features including
authentication, authorisation, and
accounting services, which control access to
networks and servers, automated workflows
for BYOD and guest acces s, as well as
providing audit and bill-back information,
which are essential.
The platform must also be agile and
sophisticated enough to embrace new levels
of enforcement for security in a mobile
world. Today’s security platforms must
embrace authentication and enforcement
models for wired networking, public wireless
connectivity, and users who tunnel in via IPbased virtual private networks to be effective.
Security conscious enterprises now
require enforcement policies that utilise
real-time contextual data to grant network
privileges. In parallel, policy management
platforms must support end-device profiling
that identifies device types and respective
attributes that connect to networks. And
real-time troubleshooting tools are valuable
as they solve connectivity and other end-user
issues quickly.
Enterprises have tried to achieve many of
those objectives with siloed security products,
but they are finding it more useful to reduce
complexity, the number of management
consoles, and the ability to use multiple
solutions if they can automatically leverage
contextual information between.
What this means is that there is room
for third-party products like mobile device
management and enterprise mobility
management, firewalls and security
information and event management tools.
But the primary management platform
must be used to coordinate defenses where
everything works as a coordinated solution.
Since Active Directory or LDAP are still
used to administer security policies for most
internal users and devices, IT departments
are not able to perform enforcement using
real-time contextual data. Context like user
roles, device types, ownership, location,
and application usage, are all essential to
enforcing policies as users move through
Issue 02
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS