Companies have been advised to consider the benefits of Network Access Control (NAC) in light of Microsoft's latest announcement that yet more critical security patches have been released.
Part of its monthly "Patch Tuesday" schedule, Microsoft has issued seven new bulletins, three of which are 'critical', about security vulnerabilities in its software, including Windows Media Format Runtime, and Internet Explorer. A number of different versions of Microsoft's operating system are affected by these security holes, including Vista.
The recommendation, which comes from IT security and control firm Sophos, advices users to patch against these vulnerabilities as a matter of urgency. All four critical patches address remote code execution vulnerabilities - if exploited, a hacker would be able to take complete control of a system running with administrative privileges, whether that be viewing and deleting data, or installing new malicious or unwanted programs.
Network access control enables organizations to control who and what is allowed onto their network, blocking unauthorized users, controlling guest access and ensuring compliance with a business's security policy.
By implementing NAC, firms reduce the risk of unauthorized, guest, non-compliant, or infected systems compromising the network, ensuring that only correctly secured computers gain network access.
"Some may have hoped that last month's single critical patch was a sign of things to come, but with seven bulletins issued this month, it would be unwise for anyone to let their guard down," said Paul Ducklin, Head of Technology for Asia Pacific at Sophos.
"Both home and business Windows users should keep up-to-date with the latest security patches, or risk being hacked. Although patching can be difficult to monitor and enforce, the process is made much easier with a NAC solution. Ensuring only compliant machines are allowed on the network means that exploited vulnerabilities on one machine remain quarantined from the remainder of the networked computers." |
