Cupertino, Calif., Oct. 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ForeScout Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of automated security control solutions for Global 1000 enterprises and government organizations, today recast the network access control (NAC) landscape with the release of ForeScout CounterACT 7 - delivering hybrid 802.1X and agentless NAC functionality that makes it easier to deploy, manage and scale network access control, particularly for organizations that are seeking to enable a bring your own device (BYOD) strategy. With CounterACT, commercial enterprises and government agencies can achieve continuous network access and endpoint compliance while upholding end user experience and critical operations.
"In heavy BYOD environments, most mobile devices connecting to corporate network start out as unmanaged," said Phil Hochmuth, security program manager at IDC Research. "NAC platforms offer several key capabilities to address BYOD requirements, such as network visibility, varying levels of identity and device-based access control, and endpoint compliance."
"Since we are both a healthcare provider and university institution, our practitioners and those in training want to use the state-of-the-art technologies and personal gadgets to support our patients' well-being. This requires greater visibility and protection to ensure the right people can quickly access appropriate resources and information as the medical situation requires," said Barak Shrefler, chief information security officer at the Hadassah University Hospital. "The tool is incredibly versatile and just keeps getting better. Not only did CounterACT quickly lock down our network, manage guests and control access to sensitive resources, but it resolved other security challenges."
ForeScout CounterACT 7 sets the bar for NAC deployment ease and manageability, strong authentication and integration with over four-dozen new and enhanced features, including:
NAC Hybrid Mode- 802.1X plus agentless NAC other authentication methods for easier implementation and improved user experience.
--- By combining 802.1X with other authentication mechanisms, ForeScout CounterACT allows managed and personal mobile devices to access network resources with less trouble, less delay and little to no assistance from IT.
--- By offering a built-in RADIUS service, proxy for RADIUS and agentless authentication, ForeScout CounterACT lets IT managers deploy NAC more quickly and thoroughly, including locations where the network infrastructure does not, cannot or would take time to support 802.1X device authentication.
--- User experience is preserved even when 802.1x authentication fails by allowing policy enforcement via employee credentialed or guest-enrolled access.
Continuous Monitoring and Remediation capabilities extend the power of CounterACT as an automated security control platform for greater IT responsiveness and compliance assurance.
--- See 802.1X trouble spots before you start to enforce network access control. Fix potential problems with CounterACT 7's automated 802.1X supplicant remediation tools.
Comprehensive monitoring of endpoint security posture ensures your network stays secure, even with BYOD devices on it.
--- New tactical map provides at-a-glance view of site compliance and issues, along with the ability to drill down to investigate and remediate problems. With a click, operators can get vitals on thousands of devices and gain situational awareness by location, device type, violation or business unit.
--- New advanced search capabilities give IT managers a convenient ability to dice and slice security and operational data to locate and report on device types, operating systems, applications, violations, and important mobile attributes such as rooted smartphones and tablets, or rogue wireless access points.
Plug-n-play Interoperability ensures that CounterACT works with what you have today and allows operators to easily apply device and role-based access enforcement policies to take full advantage of vendor specific network, security, identity and mobile attributes.
--- Enhanced WiFi integration with VLAN quarantine for Cisco, Aruba and other WiFi vendors supporting MAB and RADIUS to unify guest networking.
--- Built-in mobile device templates and two-way mobile device management (MDM) integration offer enrollment, inventory, policy checks on access and network enforcement, and delivers a broad range of controls for managed and unmanaged mobile devices.
--- New External Data Source plug-in allows customers to readily integrate CounterACT with leading enterprise databases and to utilize this data as properties within CounterACT policies and reports.
Other CounterACT 7 advances include:
--- Greater scalability and simplified administration as the latest CounterACT now supports up to 10,000 network devices per appliance. A CounterACT Enterprise manager appliance can centrally maintain up to 200 CounterACT physical or virtual appliances dynamically, all from one console.
--- Built-in RADIUS service lowers cost of ownership, speeds deployment and eases troubleshooting in 802.1X environments, while offering high availability as a secondary RADIUS server.
--- CounterACT real-time endpoint visibility includes enhanced mobile device profile templates and new device hardware, Windows machine certificate and dual-homed network device details.
ForeScout CounterACT Availability
ForeScout CounterACT 7is available now. The automated security control platform, which is delivered as an integrated, out-of-band physical or virtual appliance, is priced at $13,995 for up to 500 devices and $142,000 for the CounterACT 10000 appliance. The platform upgrade is available at no cost to customers under maintenance. CounterACT is also available as a managed service through authorized providers.
"If you, like other IT professionals, are tasked with how to secure BYOD devices, deliver greater accessibility and reduce security operational costs then ForeScout should be on your shortlist," said Gord Boyce, CEO of ForeScout. "We welcome IT organizations taking our ForeScout CounterACT 7 platform for a test-drive and seeing first hand how a best-in-class, next-generation NAC is easy to deploy and effective as a business and security enabler."
About ForeScout Technologies, Inc.
ForeScout enables organizations to accelerate productivity and
connectivity by allowing users to access corporate network
resources where, how and when needed without compromising security.
ForeScout's automated solutions for network access control, mobile
security, endpoint compliance and threat prevention empower IT
agility while preempting risks and eliminating remediation costs.
Because the ForeScout CounterACT platform is easy to deploy,
unobtrusive, intelligent and scalable, it has been chosen by more
than 1,300 of the world's most secure enterprises and military
installations for global deployments spanning 37 countries.
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, ForeScout delivers its
solutions through its network of authorized partners worldwide.
Learn more at www.forescout.com.
ForeScout Technologies, Inc. is a privately held Delaware corporation. ForeScout, the ForeScout logo, CounterACT and ActiveResponse are trademarks of ForeScout. Other names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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