New Tools On Tap As Cisco Teams Up With Top Security Vendors

Under the new Cisco Network Admission Control program, Cisco teamed with Network Associates, Symantec and Trend Micro to integrate technology in an effort to contain security threats before they cause damage, said John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco.

The Network Admission Control technology restricts access from devices such as PCs, servers and PDAs that are not compliant with a customer's established security policies in areas such as operating-system patch level or antivirus software.

By mid-2004, the San Jose, Calif.-based networking vendor plans to integrate the functionality into its access and midrange routers, enabling them to block, quarantine or restrict access to non-compliant devices trying to establish a network connection.

Cisco's new security partners have licensed the Cisco Trust Agent and plan to integrate it with their antivirus applications. The software resides on endpoints to collect the security status of the devices and communicate the data back to the Cisco network.

"Current point product solutions can't keep up with new threats," Chambers said. "We need an automated and proactive solution that can move to integrate security services in the network infrastructure."

The move comes at a time when security efforts have become crucial, especially for vertical-market customers subject to new laws that require them to enforce stricter security standards, said Ed Haack, president of Thomas Technologies, a solution provider in Rockwell, Texas. "The government came down so hard on these people,the regulations are so stiff,that if a product has security in it, they want to hear about it," he said. "Triple redundancy is commonplace now."

Cisco plans to extend Network Admission Control functionality to its switches, wireless access points and security appliances, and to add other security vendors to the program.

The program is part of Cisco's Self-Defending Network Initiative, a security strategy aimed at developing networks that can identify, prevent and adapt to security threats.

Cisco Network Admission Control systems will initially support endpoints running Windows NT, XP and 2000.