Cisco and Microsoft Tackle Net Quarantine

Interoperability of Cisco’s Network Admission Control (NAC) and Microsoft’s Network Access Protection (NAP)-two different approaches for protecting networks from computers that do not meet security policy-was demonstrated at The Security Standard conference in Boston in Sept. 2006. Both companies used the event to release background information on interoperability between the two technologies, but customers will have to wait until the next version of Windows Server (code-named Longhorn) is released in 2007 before deploying any NAC-NAP solutions.

Two Ways to Offer Protection

Network Admission Control is the name of Cisco’s technology that uses network infrastructure to enforce security policy compliance on networked devices, thereby limiting damage from devices that have vulnerabilities or have been compromised. Customers using NAC can limit network access only to endpoint devices (PCs, servers, and mobile devices) that pass a health check, and they can restrict the access of noncompliant devices.