McAfee Announces Beta Version of Policy Enforcer

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McAfee Announces Beta Version of McAfee Policy Enforcer

IT News Online Staff

2005-11-08

McAfee Inc. has announced the availability of a beta version of McAfee Policy Enforcer, its system security policy enforcement solution. Scheduled for general availability in early 2006, the solution helps protect corporate network environments by blocking network access to managed and unmanaged end-point systems that do not comply with defined IT security policies.

The company said that with McAfee Policy Enforcer, enterprises would have a robust protection against internal and external threats, protecting valuable infrastructure investments through an integrated system for endpoint policy enforcement.

The solution is said to provide smart policy controls, and granular agent and agentless assessment to ensure security application and patch compliance before allowing access to the network. It also performs additional checks to verify that high-risk viruses and threats are not present on the endpoint system. The solution seamlessly integrates with McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator 3.6 (ePO) to ensure easy deployment and lower management and integration costs. It also requires no major network infrastructure overhaul, resulting in an accelerated implementation across the entire network.

McAfee said the McAfee Policy Enforcer provides IT administrators with the benefit of centralized management for all their system security needs bringing anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, host intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and endpoint policy enforcement under one console.

The solution has been designed to protect network environments from internal and external threats, both in heterogeneous environments and those supporting enforcement frameworks such as Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC), Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP) and Trusted Network Connect (TNC). McAfee Policy Enforcer is said to be able to take advantage of a corporation's existing infrastructure, while mitigating the risks involved with non-compliant systems accessing the network.

"McAfee is 100% focused on helping its customers plan, execute and continuously improve their security posture," said Steve Crutchfield, director of product marketing, McAfee Inc. "McAfee Policy Enforcer will offer proven security technology backed by unmatched security expertise, helping large enterprises feel safe about offering an open method of connectivity for all their users including remote or mobile workers, partners and suppliers. And, since this product will integrate seamlessly with today's leading third party VPN, remote access, wireless and networking solutions, it will support our customers' environments across the world."

McAfee Policy Enforcer builds on the McAfee Trusted Connection Initiative, a strategy for validating that systems connecting to the network, both from internal and external access points, are brought to compliance before they are allowed to connect. As part of the McAfee Trusted Connection Initiative, McAfee has teamed up with Virtual Private Network (VPN) and networking technology provides including Aventail, Cisco, Juniper and Nortel to create a solution that easily integrates with third party security applications.

McAfee Policy Enforcer also creates new opportunities for system integrators, such as network integration and support and software up sells. The company said its channel partners will act as trusted advisors to help implement and manage security solutions, providing services such as vulnerability assessment, security policy planning and design and training.

The McAfee Policy Enforcer beta version will be available late November 2005. General availability of McAfee Policy Enforcer is schedule for early 2006 through McAfee and its channel partners.

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