Enhance your organisational security with ClearPass and EdgeConnect.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) received over 67,500 cybercrime complaints last financial year, a 13 percent increase from the previous year. Cybercrime is becoming increasingly prevalent, and attacks are becoming more intricate and sophisticated.

The pandemic rendered more Australians dependent on the internet for remote employment, access to services and information, communication, and connection with others. This dependency has expanded the attack surface and presented cybercriminals with more target opportunities. However, many firms have neglected to establish secure network access control (NAC).

The ACSC recommends businesses examine their underlying networks to identify vulnerabilities and apply appropriate cybersecurity measures. With cyber-actors scrutinising security risk reports and using automated tools to check for and exploit network opportunities, network security should remain a high organisational priority.

There are a range of technology solutions available to businesses seeking to protect their networks and high value data. Aruba ClearPass and EdgeConnect work to provide proven security solutions that combat evolving risks in business networks.

ClearPass

Aruba ClearPass, according to Aruba’s Chief Technology Officer, supports businesses in concentrating on security by adjusting to an ever-changing, diverse group of users and devices. This is done in order to defend against attacks that are both smart and persistent.

ClearPass is a secure Network Access Control (NAC) solution that combines a comprehensive policy manager with secure BYOD device onboarding, posture testing before permitting secure network connections, and a streamlined guest self-service interface.

ClearPass is based on the Zero Trust concept – no device, person, or network segment is inherently trustworthy and should be seen as a potential risk. ClearPass combines discovery and profiling to ensure that users and devices are granted the appropriate access privileges, independent of access mode or device owner.

ClearPass provides businesses with assistance in adopting a Zero Trust posture so they can avoid the dangers associated with the notable increase in attacks directed at Internet of Things devices and network users.

According to Aruba, this method can also be of use to businesses who are looking to implement a secure access service edge (SASE) strategy in order to secure their operations.

ClearPass Device Insight enhances critical discovery and profiling capabilities, enabling the identification of a wide range of IoT and mobile devices in varied circumstances. ClearPass employs Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), robust machine learning algorithms, and crowdsourcing device fingerprinting to accomplish this.

Aruba ClearPass can be incorporated into any network to protect guest WiFi, corporate WiFi, VPN connections, wired network ports for corporate-issued PCs, laptops, tablets, and BYOD and IoT devices.

ClearPass is able to further reduce the complexity of security while simultaneously expanding the number of enforcement operations by interfacing with an ecosystem that has more than 150 different third-party solutions covering a wide range of security capabilities.

EdgeConnect

Many enterprise applications are migrating from corporate data centres to the cloud. Private line connections such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) are often restrictive and expensive.

Aruba EdgeConnect, a software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) platform, enables organisations to substantially cut the cost and complexity of constructing a WAN by leveraging the Internet to link users to applications.

By allowing businesses to use internet connections to augment or replace their existing MPLS networks, Aruba enhances customer responsiveness, increases application performance, and significantly reduces capital and operational expenses.

There are many benefits offered to businesses by SD-WAN. By implementing SD-WAN in their networks, businesses may achieve greater agility while also reducing cost.

When it comes to building a good SASE architecture, SD-WAN is the foundational component. By choosing the most powerful security features available and integrating them with SD-WAN, organisations can ensure the greatest level of security for their workers and other stakeholders accessing the network.

SD-WAN enables enterprises to benefit from the versatility of cloud computing while also improving the effectiveness of cloud applications. This is performed by using local internet breakout to route traffic straight to the cloud.

SD-WAN enables enterprises to shift to a thin-branch model by simplifying network architecture, reducing the amount of equipment required at branch sites, and significantly reducing administrative labor for WAN administration.

New branch offices can be established quickly and easily using SD-WAN, and changes to a company’s security policy can be automatically transmitted to hundreds or thousands of branches in minutes, reducing potential for error. Dashboards and a single pane of glass enable network administrators to monitor network status.

Aruba ClearPass integration with EdgeConnect Enterprise provides fine-grained segmentation by enhancing application intelligence with the user and device identification and role-based policy. The additional identity-based context accelerates troubleshooting and issue resolution and allows for consistent security policy enforcement throughout the whole network, from the edge to the cloud.

ClearPass becomes even more powerful when combined with EdgeConnect. EdgeConnect Business Intent Overlays (BIO) enable companies to create a virtual WAN for every traffic class. Application performance, security, and routing policies are automatically programmed to all sites, ensuring consistency across the network.

Protect your business from edge to cloud

Aruba ensures interoperability between their infrastructure and other partner solutions, resulting in simplified installation and operation. Aruba’s partnership-certified solutions aid organisations in adopting digital transformation and increase the value of installed infrastructure.

For example, Dropbox, which manages file transfers for up to 700 million customers at any given time, employs Aruba’s edge to cloud security solutions. ClearPass, a key component of the Aruba solution, serves as Dropbox’s principal certificate server. According to Dropbox, employing ClearPass offers a safe and easy experience that allows their large team to easily connect to and access networks that they have been granted access to.

Another example is The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), who have minimised the possibility of data breaches by adopting ClearPass and AirWave to provide certifications to the devices of 350 members of its highly mobile staff. As a result, their clients trust the ANAO and are prepared to provide auditors with the information required for report creation.

Aruba & Palo Alto Networks

Incorporating the necessary levels of security and control into a mobile-first design is a challenge to be solved as the trend toward more flexible and productive networks gains momentum. As businesses see an influx of headless and IoT devices that connect to the general IT infrastructure, new attack vectors are introduced.

Aruba ClearPass is a proven network access control and policy management solution that acts as a network gatekeeper, ensuring secure network access and quick attack response. The Palo Alto Networks Security Operating Platform prevents intrusions with intelligent automation. Aruba and Palo Alto Networks collaborate to provide powerful integrated features. Aruba ClearPass Secure NAC employs Next-Generation Firewall policies and rules to detect minor to significant changes in user or device behaviour, indicative of insider assaults.

This integrated solution provides businesses with enhanced visibility into IoT and corporate network devices, establishing firewall rules and restricting application access based on user identity and device security posture.

Through joint efforts, Aruba ClearPass and Palo Alto Networks encourage companies to adopt the latest Zero Trust strategy. The Zero Trust concept was developed in response to the security challenges inherent with modern apps and networks. In Zero Trust solutions, the following essential ideas are used:

• The least privileged level of access. Regardless of the network configurations, such as IP addresses and port numbers, it enables precise access control at the application and sub-application levels.

• Constant trust validation. Following the authorisation of application access, a continuing trust evaluation is carried out based on changes in the posture of the device, the behaviour of the user, and the activity of the application.
• Continuous security checks. Extensive and continuous analysis of all application traffic, including approved connections, is used to help prevent assaults, particularly zero-day threats.
• Data security. Using a single data loss prevention (DLP) policy, this feature provides consistent data management across all applications, including both private and SaaS applications.
• Application security. Maintains the highest level of security for all corporate systems, including newly developed cloud-native, legacy private, and SaaS applications.

Megaport

Workloads are progressively distributed over public, private, and hybrid clouds, with more end-users working remotely and accessing mission-critical applications and resources via personal computers, laptops, and mobile devices. Businesses can upgrade their networks and achieve new levels of agility and efficiency in connectivity with software-defined networking (SDN) and SD-WAN.

Aruba Networks and Megaport work together to simplify and accelerate network connectivity whilst extending the benefits of SD-WAN and SASE. Megaport Virtual Edge (MVE) easily connects with Aruba SD-WAN to provide businesses with a thoroughly modernised and transformed network architecture designed for the cloud. The joint solution simplifies SASE and enables the rapid delivery of responsive, flexible, and secure networking services in a matter of clicks.

MVE keeps applications and traffic on the Aruba SD-WAN fabric for a longer time, thereby reducing the risk and unpredictability of using the public Internet while simultaneously providing the immediate benefits of higher performance, increased security, and improved security efficiency.

Conclusion

True security can be achieved if the network is viewed and managed centrally, ensuring only authenticated or authorised devices can connect. ClearPass enables the development of complex access controls based on predictability, based on factors such as user and device types, device management data, certificate status, location, and day of the week.

With EdgeConnect and ClearPass’s possibilities to modernise and protect your organisation, your IT partner can help you develop value-added solutions such as SD-WAN-based security efficiency. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you move towards a more intelligent and progressive business, together.