Policy, context, and analysis….and some more context. Greater context helps us make better, more powerful decisions safely. We’re hearing the term context-based security more and more but is it anything new? Since inception, Aruba has applied context-based access decisions to wireless, and in more recent years also to wired access. This context information obtained prior to granting access – the who, what, where, and when – is something we’ve considered normal for many years now but it’s something that others are only now bringing into their solutions. Given Aruba’s comfort with context – and ethos of providing ecosystem friendly solutions – it’s hardly a surprise that this context has been widened, and the widened again.
Aruba’s ClearPass and IntroSpect interact with over 120 ecosystem partner products – as part of the Aruba Security Exchange program - taking additional information from best of breed products to ensure that the best possible decisions are made, and enforced centrally.
What’s the big deal with additional context? Outside of the obvious fact that this greater context provides us with better-informed access decisions, there are financial, and operational benefits that work in more ways than potentially anticipated.
Financially speaking, by leveraging information from third party systems for free – using the API or other mechanisms to get a better understanding of device states prior to authorizing connections – customers can continue to use their best-of-breed products without an unnecessary duplication of efforts – and it all adds up to be greater than the sum of its parts. The context conversation is a two-way thing – Aruba is also feeding information into the third-party systems to make them more effective too.
Operationally this also makes sense: Having one system to collate and make decisions on policies is far simpler than having to regularly make changes on the oft-reported 36 security products that the average enterprise is looking after. Additionally, from an operations point of view, we now have one platform to enforce event-driven, dynamic, responses to the network, as well as being able to report that into the customer ticketing systems and SIEMs accordingly.
Want to take context further? For further decision-making capabilities how about taking device behaviour into consideration. In conjunction with IntroSpect, Aruba’s User and Entity Behavioural Analytics (UEBA) platform, we can now spot behaviour changes determine the risk associated with that and apply a change of network policy for that device as deemed appropriate.
In short – and ironically it’s taken from an out of context quote but – context is king!
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