Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

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Net vendors demo improved security protocol

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CIBOZWWY3QGMYQSNDLPSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=207501479&printable=true&printable=true

Rick Merritt
(05/05/2008 2:36 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207501479

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A handful of vendors have demonstrated a technique to help companies more easily secure a rising number of Internet Protocol devices accessing their private business networks.
ArcSight, Aruba, Infoblox, Lumeta Networks and Juniper have demonstrated a new protocol to link to a common security database. The protocol, called IF-MAP, is at the core of the Network Access Control 2.0 standard just published by the Trusted Computing Group, a broad ad hoc security organization devoted to security.

The new protocol defines a standard interface to a common shared database of who is on a network and what each node is doing. It aims to ease the job of providing integrated security for corporate nets in the face of a rising number of automated clients including RFID systems. It is an upgrade of the initial NAC standard first adopted in 2005.

"NAC 1.0 is key in controlling who gets on the network, but the problem is there are many new kinds of nodes like inventory control devices and robots, and they all have an IP address and so users need to control them," said Steve Hanna a distinguished engineer at Juniper Networks who co-chairs the Trusted Network Connect committee that developed the protocol.

IF-MAP, which stands for Interface to Metadata Access Point, was officially published April 28. Companies first demonstrated the technology at Interop in Las Vegas last week.

Vendors are free to implement the security database as they see fit as long as they support the common access protocol. The new interface does not require any changes in hardware.

"That's how we were able to get so many companies to create a demo using it in a short amount of time," said Hanna

The Trusted Computing Group is working with the Internet Engineering Task Force to harmonize their currently separate standards for secure network access.