NAC Leader Neutralizes Worst Worm in Years, Increasing Productivity and Saving Money
Concord, N.H. – Facing the outbreak of the worst computer worm in years, Elizabethtown College protects itself from the Conficker/Downadup worm with award-winning network access control technology from Bradford Networks, the leading provider of comprehensive NAC solutions.
The Pennsylvania-based college, ranked consistently among the top institutions in the North by U.S. News and World Report, first deployed Bradford’s Campus Manager in 2003. It is addressing Conficker (also known as Downup, Downadup and Kido) by using Bradford’s Campus Manager to check every machine that attempts to connect to the school’s network.
“With Bradford’s NAC solution as a key component of our security infrastructure, we are confident that the Conficker worm that is running rampant elsewhere has bypassed our 2,800 student, faculty, staff and lab machines,” said Steve Rutter, Director of Networking. “Our job is to keep the college’s network running and Campus Manager is key to reducing downtime, increasing productivity and saving money.”
Conficker, which has already spread to 15 million PCs worldwide and could double in size, primarily spreads through unpatched Windows computers or a USB flash drive. The worm disables several key computer operations, such as Windows Automatic Updates and Windows Security Center, and embeds additional malware for future malicious activities.
Automatic Computer Scans Protect Networks
Bradford Networks’ NAC solutions can automatically scan machines as they connect and confirm that Microsoft Critical Updates are installed, including the October 2008 security update for the vulnerability exploited by the Win32/Conficker worm, before granting network access. Security administrators have the flexibility to scan machines upon connection or at regularly scheduled intervals with either dissolvable or persistent agents.
If the security update is missing, Bradford Networks provides the IT team with several options:
- Block users from connecting to the network entirely;
- Connect users to an isolation segment of the network and notify the IT help desk;
- Connect users to a self-remediation segment of the network, so they can update their systems themselves.
The self-remediation approach to addressing updates has been a huge benefit to Bradford Networks customers, including Columbia University Medical Center, which documented a 66 percent drop in help desk calls in its pilot NAC deployment.
“Bradford customers can bank on the fact that their networks are protected by our NAC solutions,” said Mike Gadoury, Bradford Networks founder and CEO. “From the Blaster and Nachi outbreaks in 2003 to today’s Conficker worm, Bradford Networks technologies have been at the forefront of protecting networks from the continuing onslaught of serious attacks.
About Bradford Networks
Bradford Networks develops advanced network access control solutions for wireless, wired and VPN networks. Bradford’s patent-pending, award-winning, out-of-band appliances leverage existing network infrastructure to automatically enforce policy at the network edge, making networks more secure and efficient. Privately held, Bradford Networks is headquartered in Concord, NH. For more information, call (603) 228-5300 or visit www.bradfordnetworks.com.