nir-vana innovation network

Currently, the 4.0 revolution together with the growth in use of internet of things (IoT) devices, has exponentially increased the utilization of media and technological services supported on corporate networks. IT infrastructures become fundamental assets for any business, and cybersecurity is a main strategy of companies.
However, the first step to take security initiatives in corporate networks is to know the environment over which these actions will be applied, this is achieved through visibility. Once you know the network and the typology of the devices in it, you can start protecting it. Visibility is the basis of network security since you cannot protect what you do not know.
In this context, a Spanish SME, founded in 2011 and specialised as a security software vendor, has developed a modular visibility and access control solution for corporate networks. The modular approach allows implementation processes to be fast and simple, preventing the impact on productive environments during deployment.
This network access control solution has several passive methods to discover both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) devices. Passive methods reduce impacts and additional network traffic thus preventing overload or business interruption. From the discovery process, all network assets and its associated information is included in a configuration management database (CMDB), the information collected will be available to define the assets classification according to business rules.
The main features of this solution is the modularity, it is composed by modules that cover all the main features of a traditional network access control (NAC) solution and add very useful functionalities for corporate environments.
1.Visibility: discovery and inventory of 100% of the devices connected to the corporate network (network asset quantification), profiling any type of device (asset qualification) and logical device grouping according to business requirements. 100% customizable tagging for devices connected to network. Moreover, network behaviour, communication flows, network protocols used, network performance statistics.
2.Universal network access control: Identity validation in wired, wireless, virtual private networks (VPN). Ability to integrate and implement 2 authentication factors in user connections. Central management for access policies. Uses 802.1x (standard for port-based network access control) for authentication, additionally, others network information sources.
3.Network segmentation: network segmentation based on 100% customizable parameters, identity, functional department, business rule, etc. Attack Surface reduction through micro segmentation. Integration with network devices such as next generation firewalls (NGFW), switches, etc. Device Isolation. Critical assets protection.
4.Compliance: Minimum requirements connection profiles through policies for user devices. Patching rules access policies to contain disruptive attacks and vulnerability mitigation. Compliance of network devices configuration. Security baseline audit for user devices and network devices.
5.Bring your own device (BYOD): Permissions associated to corporate identities. User Mobility. Security policies applied to devices.
6.Guest access control: Guest access management through captive portal. Customized guest users connections flows adaptable to any business use case. Minimum connection requirements for guests.
7.Secure remote access: Support “zero trust” approach using authentication, authorization and accountability (AAA). Apply controls to reduce the attack surface. Reduce the risk associated to user devices by end-point device posturing.
The company is looking to expand his international business development and therefore, they are particularly interested in partnering with companies who are ICT integrators or managed security service provider (MSSP), willing to collaborate under licence agreement.

Advantages & innovations

There are other network access control (NAC) solutions in the market. Nevertheless, this solution introduces a modular approach, which makes this software product completely adaptable to the organizations maturity level. This allows companies to see quick results while generating more value over time and preparing the organization for the next module. It is a software solution that can be deployed from the cloud, on premise or a hybrid model thus reducing the impact on your infrastructure. Moreover, the added value that provide this solution is that it is a multi-vendor and multi-version software, which can share information and work with other solutions, and his performance does not depend on the version or on the hardware.

Stage of development

Already on the market

Partner sought

The company is looking for ICT integrators or managed security service providers (MSSP) with a wide experience in supplying software solutions. The type of collaboration sought is license agreement. The role of the partner sought is to commercialise this cybersecurity solution to clients (software solution aimed to solve medium enterprises challenges) within his area of influence.