WEI Tech Exchange

Imagine managing a large party in your home, where guests arrive unpredictably through different entryways. You can’t just lock the front door and call it secure. Instead, you need to keep track of everyone who enters, ensure they’re supposed to be there, and monitor the activity inside. In the same way, businesses face the complex challenge of managing network security across an expansive digital landscape. With remote work, a rise in connected devices, and growing cyber threats, ensuring effective business network security now resembles organizing a secure, multi-room event with hundreds — if not thousands — of “guests.”

For enterprise network security, network access control (NAC) serves as a security “host,” overseeing who and what enters the network. NAC solutions verify authorized access, flag potential threats, and enforce security policies to maintain a secure, smooth environment. In this article, we explore how modern NAC solutions elevate network security, enhance endpoint protection, and streamline access management across increasingly complex digital environments.

BYOD And IoT On The Rise

As business network security advances to meet the surge in IoT devices and the needs of a mobile workforce, we see that traditional firewalls and basic NAC solutions simply aren’t enough anymore. Today’s enterprise network security requires advanced NAC solutions to give us the visibility and control needed to secure network access, protect sensitive data, and stay compliant.

Let’s consider the impact of mobile and remote work. With mobile workers making up about 59.4% of the global workforce — that’s around 1.76 billion people worldwide — endpoint security is necessary. With IoT spending projected to grow at 10.4% annually from 2023 to 2027, the sheer number of connected devices is only increasing.

Yet, there’s a big challenge we need to address: endpoint monitoring. Many organizations admit struggling to monitor mobile devices when they leave the corporate network. This gap in monitoring presents a clear need for enterprise network security that extends to all endpoints, wherever they are. Comprehensive, ongoing monitoring is now essential for keeping our networks truly secure.

This expansion brings numerous enterprise network security challenges:

1. Device diversity: Each device type, whether a smartphone or an industrial sensor, introduces unique security risks, often lacking standard enterprise-grade protections.
2. Guest and contractor access: Outsiders such as contractors and vendors regularly need network access which creates potential vulnerabilities.
3. IoT threats: IoT devices, frequently “headless” (that is, without user interfaces), lack the capability for basic security updates, making them frequent targets for cybercriminals.

Effective network security today requires more than just allowing or denying access. Modern NAC solutions need to deliver centralized visibility, rapid threat responses, and integrated controls across all connected devices.

Watch: Securing The Hybrid Workforce With SASE

The Need For Visibility, Automation, And Modern Controls

Traditional NAC solutions, which rely on simple scan-and-block techniques, fall short in meeting today’s security needs. For modern business network security requirements, organizations need NAC that goes beyond these outdated methods.

Key capabilities now essential for network access control should include:

1. Comprehensive visibility: IT and security teams must have centralized visibility into every device—whether it’s a laptop, IoT device, or mobile phone—across all segments of the network. This visibility ensures that nothing enters or operates within the network without oversight.
2. Automated threat responses: With the high volume of security alerts generated daily, manual responses are too slow and resource-intensive. Automated responses allow for immediate containment and mitigation of threats, minimizing potential damage and accelerating response times.
3. Efficient device onboarding and workflow automation: Manual processes for provisioning and onboarding devices are time-consuming and prone to error. Automated workflows streamline these tasks, reducing wait times for new devices to join the network and minimizing risks from misconfigured or unidentified devices.
4. Dynamic segmentation controls: To prevent lateral movement by potential attackers, NAC solutions must enforce policies that automatically segment and restrict access based on device type, user role, and behavior patterns. Dynamic segmentation protects sensitive data and systems from unauthorized access within the network.

FortiNAC by Fortinet addresses these needs with a policy-driven, automated solution that delivers comprehensive visibility, responsive containment, and seamless integration with the Fortinet Security Fabric. This platform empowers security teams to identify, authenticate, and control each device connection, strengthening enterprise network security across the organization and reducing risk from internal and external threats.

FortiNAC provides significant advantages in four core areas of network security:

1. Lower total cost of ownership (TCO)
   FortiNAC offers a flexible and comprehensive network security solution designed to integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructure. The platform supports over 150 vendors, including switches, wireless devices, and firewalls. This compatibility helps businesses maximize their previous investments in network infrastructure, enhancing both endpoint and enterprise security. FortiNAC’s deployment options — available as a hardware appliance, virtual appliance, or cloud service — empower architects to choose configurations that best suit their organization’s unique needs.
   
   By using open standards, FortiNAC eliminates the need for a server at every location, enabling businesses to reduce costs by leveraging their existing network and security setups. These features make FortiNAC a versatile and adaptable choice for organizations looking to strengthen business network security and maintain a secure, well-integrated environment across the enterprise.
   
   
2. Rapid deployment and scalability
   FortiNAC’s REST-based API enables rapid deployment and seamless bi-directional data exchange, making it adaptable to large-scale networks. Integrated within the Fortinet Security Fabric, FortiNAC serves as a third-generation network access control (NAC) solution that meets the complex demands of enterprise network security.
   
   Unlike earlier NAC solutions, which primarily authorize managed PCs and guest devices, FortiNAC enforces policies across distributed environments where dynamic access control is critical. With Security Fabric integration, FortiNAC identifies, validates, and segments every device on the network, enhancing both endpoint security and overall business network security. Additionally, FortiNAC prevents threat spread through granular access control, and ensures devices access only the resources aligned with their roles.
   
   
3. Accelerated BYOD and IoT device integration
   FortiNAC integrates with existing EMM systems to streamline onboarding and validate BYOD and IoT devices, thereby enhancing endpoint security for mobile and remote workers. It delivers essential visibility and access control to secure a wide range of devices in BYOD and IoT-heavy environments.
   
   Through agentless scanning, FortiNAC automatically discovers, classifies, and verifies each device, by allowing only authenticated devices to connect. Role-based policies further enable precise control over device permissions and behavior, ensuring comprehensive enterprise network security and simplifying access management for organizations.
   
   
4. Reduced containment time
   FortiNAC strengthens business network security by correlating user activity and network connections to detect and prioritize potential threats. Automation drives FortiNAC’s security architecture, enabling it to contain threats rapidly through real-time intelligence sharing within the Fortinet Security Fabric. This integration automatically enforces policies to safeguard network security and reduce risk. When a threat occurs, FortiNAC isolates compromised devices and notifies network administrators to improve endpoint security. This approach then helps businesses stay compliant with regulatory standards.

Final Thoughts

Maintaining security for a scheduled party means not only knowing who enters, but also keeping an eye on everyone’s activities to ensure each space remains safe and controlled. This is also the reality of modern business network security. With various devices constantly accessing enterprise networks, organizations need more than just basic network security.

FortiNAC from Fortinet exemplifies the kind of advanced NAC solution required to handle today’s enterprise network security needs. Offering policy-based automation and integrating with the Fortinet Security Fabric, FortiNAC provides businesses with detailed visibility, real-time control, and automated responses to potential threats across mobile, IoT, and remote endpoints.

For organizations looking to implement a reliable NAC solution, WEI offers expert guidance in FortiNAC integration so your business gains visibility, automation, and the confidence to face modern security challenges head-on. Contact WEI today to explore how FortiNAC can strengthen your enterprise network security and safeguard your organization’s future.

Next Steps: FortiAnalyzer provides automation-ready single-pane-of-glass management, transparent visibility, advanced compliance reporting, and network-aware rapid response across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. The solution streamlines security operations and brings unparalleled value to modern security network management.

Talk to WEI about advancing your organization’s security posture by optimizing Fortinet Security Fabric with FortiAnalyzer. Download our free tech brief below.