Soliton Cyber & Analytics announced the availability of its new network access control tool NetAttest LAP One at the ChannelPro SMB Forum in Dallas today. The Long Beach, Calif.-based cybersecurity solution provider says NETAttest LAP One will allow managed service providers (MSPs) to offer small and medium-size businesses continuous, real-time visibility into all active devices on their networks—including Internet of Things (IoT) devices that make businesses more vulnerable to attack—at a more affordable price and without the complexity of traditional NAC solutions.
Network access control is now a necessity for many SMBs, particularly with an increasingly mobile workforce and a wide variety of traditional and nontraditional endpoints. Many SMBs already lack visibility into what devices are accessing their company resources, and with analysts predicting billions of IoT devices to be connected by 2020, SMBs may not even be aware of what those “things” are, what they are doing, who is using them, or how they are being used on the network.
The NetAttest LAP One automatically runs detection upon plugging into a local network and locates active devices. “It’s great for dealing with the internet-enabled TV that someone plugged in to the break room, [but] that no one remembered to tell IT was on the network,” explains Chad Kime, Soliton Cyber & Analytic’s chief operating officer. “And it creates a white list and a black list and can be automated.”
After mapping devices on the network, the manager can block unauthorized devices, regardless of location, time of day, or endpoint type. Contextual access control allows businesses to also enable access to networks and data for BYOD, guest, and new corporate devices without compromising security. Because NetAttest LAP One does not send any data outside the network, privacy is guaranteed.
Initially, Kime says, the tool was aimed at preventing hackers from attaching a rogue device like a laptop to a network, but the ability to detect IoT devices connected to the network is an emerging need. “As we started testing the device, it started finding all these Internet of Things ‘things’ that even the IT department didn’t know had been attached. [The MSP will] go into an executive’s office and say, “I have got this new device showing up in your office. What do you have? Oh, you plugged in an Alexa on your desk, and didn’t tell anybody.'”
He continues, “We started to recognize that even though having someone attack your network is still a very important problem, knowing what’s already on your network is also a big deal because it [opens up] back doors that you have to address. And especially with the number of devices that are out there, it’s getting harder and harder to know what people are plugging into the network.”
For MSPs and IT service providers, the solution, which is easy to install, configure, and operate, allows them to not only expand their managed security offering for existing clients, but opens up new, underserved markets—and increased revenue opportunities.
SMBs have the same network access control issues as larger organizaitons, Kim says, but until now NAC solutions have been “priced out of their abilities to deal with it, whether it’s strictly from a dollar and cents standpoint, or from a capabilities and time to set up [standpoint. These more robust network access control devices really require a lot of expertise in IT, which either they have to have in-house, or they have to hire out-of-house, which gets expensive.”
While NetAttest LAP One does not have the full capabilities of a more sophisticated enterprise NAC solution, it’s very simple for MSPs to control their SMB customers’ networks, Kime says. “It’s incredibly easy to use, incredibly simple to set up, and it’s much, much cheaper.
NetAttest LAP One is available for a 14-day test drive. To request a free trial, visit solitonca.com. For more details, go to NetAttest LAP One for more details.
