NAC promises to plug one of the remaining holes in IT security — the damage a trusted user can do to the network if that user’s system unwittingly harbors worms, viruses, malware or other threats. Although NAC solutions can include some form of identity management, access control solutions focus on securing local and remote systems that successfully authenticate to the network.
That management takes several forms. At the most basic level, NAC solutions check the security posture of accessing clients. This can include scanning for up-to-date:
Anti-virus definitions
Application patches
Anti-spam filters
