Forescout Extends Enterprise-Grade NAC to Cover Up to 400K Endpoints
Latest CounterACT Release Offers New Enterprise Compliance Dashboard, Guest Security Suite, and More
Cupertino, Calif. – April 14, 2009 – Forescout Technologies, the market leader in network access control (NAC) for large government and global enterprise deployments, today announced the release of its enhanced CounterACT platform. With this release, Forescout extends its enterprise-grade NAC to cover up to 400K endpoints from a single management console in real-time.
“The goal of IT Security management is to reduce the business risks and the costs a ssociated with intellectual property loss and network downtime, while increasing security coverage and – where possible – business productivity, " said Steven Cooper, former CIO of the American Red Cross and the first CIO of the US Department of Homeland Security, and founding partner of Strativest. ” NAC technology offers a real-time window into critical network activities, and is ideally suited to help IT managers meet this goal. Of all the NAC technology on the market today, I am particularly impressed with the innovations offered in CounterACT, its number of global deployments, and the groundswell of users that continue to buy the product. I plan to keep an eye on this company’s technology and growth, and applaud Forescout for the market recognition they are now receiving. I think it’s duly deserved."
“Our latest CounterACT addresses customers’ demand for an enterprise management solution that scales with today’s IT growth, gives greater visibility into business risks and network-user behavior, and reduces the cost and time spent in preventing threats," added Forescout CTO, Oded Comay.
“Most of the features introduced in this latest release were developed with our customers, and are focused on automating their business-critical IT functions."
In fact, CounterACT now offers a full complement of solutions to address the needs of global enterprises who are expanding their use of NAC:
- Executive Dashboard. IT administrators can now provide corporate executives an easy-to-understand view of complex compliance and trending data on a per-organization or per-policy basis. Data can be filtered using any pre-defined policy, and the dashboard results can be exported to pdf, email, print, third-party Network and Security Manager (NSM) tools, or projected onto a large-format LCD NOC display.
- Guest Security Suite (GSS). Global guest access management has never been easier. The latest CounterACT features a suite of applications for managing guest registration/authentication, role-based access, post-connect monitoring and reporting. The suite greatly simplifies admission and access control over the periodic user, no matter who they may be: guest, contractor/consultant, business partner, student, visiting professor, doctor, auditor/assessor, or others.
- Enterprise Management Control Suite (EMCS). The CounterACT Enterprise Manager and NAC family of appliances scale to cover up to 400K endpoints (OS and non-OS devices). To segregate, direct and control global user activities from a central EM command console in the largest deployments, more granular permission controls have been added, allowing NAC administrators to limit who can view and control their local network.
- Preventative Security Suite (PSS). CounterACT offers a comprehensive threat prevention suite that: 1) detects/disables peer-to-peer and instant messaging applications; 2) allows white/black lists to be defined and used to detect/block any external storage device (USBs, USB/modem, mass storage, smart phones, etc.); 3) detects/blocks dual-homed connections, device impersonation, ARP spoofing attempts, and more.
- McAfee ePO Integration. Together, CounterACT and McAfee ePO help to assure complete endpoint coverage. CounterACT connects to the McAfee ePO server to detect/control hosts with specific ePO attributes and to provide information back to the McAfee ePO server (for instance, on non-ePO hosts). NAC policies can be created based upon host data retrieved from the McAfee ePO server database; the ePO agent can be started on managed ePO hosts; unmanaged/non-ePO hosts can be redirected to the ePO install site for remediation.
- Port-level Access Control. This new enforcement method introduces access control beyond 802.1x and VLAN steering (without being in-line). Using Layer 3 and Layer 4 access control lists (ACLs) at the switch port allows quarantining before a network connection occurs and eliminates the need to deploy remediation and/or guest VLANs. Business productivity is maintained, network operation is smoother, protection is higher, and end-points are protected from one another even within their VLAN … without the cost of replacing or adding switch or NAC appliances in remote offices.
These latest CounterACT capabilities will be demonstrated in the Forescout Booth #423 at the upcoming RSA Conference 2009, April 20-24, Moscone Center/San Francisco.
About Strativest, LLC
Strativest is a firm focused on identifying emerging technologies applicable to homeland security and emergency response and preparedness, assisting in the development of ‘go-to-market’ actions, and in providing management advisory services for business development and the strategic use of information technology for competitive advantage. For more about the company and its services, visit www. strativest.com.
About Forescout Technologies, Inc.
Forescout is the leading provider of access control and compliance solutions. With top-tier customers from every vertical, Forescout has perfected the art of providing strong access control without disrupting network operations or needlessly punishing end users. Forescout’s flagship product, CounterACT, protects over 500 of the world’s most secure enterprises and military installations with global deployments spanning 37 countries. The CounterACT family of products provides a path to complete security policy enforcement and is fast and easy for administrators to deploy, manage and maintain. For more about the company and its products, visit www.forescout.com.