If we could jump in a time machine and travel back to 2006, we’d throw on some low-rise jeans, a crop top, and some big sunglasses and see some stellar moments in history:
- Google bought YouTube
- The Texas Longhorns won the Rose Bowl
- The Nintendo Wii was released
Back in these good ‘ol days there was a blog post for every thought and a meme for every moment…and a NAC on every network.
Once hailed as an essential component of corporate security, NAC (Network Access Control) has since experienced a decline in its popularity. This can be attributed to the complexities involved in its installation, the difficulties in managing it, and its inability to keep pace with the ever-expanding array of things that can connect to a network – including, now, AI agents acting autonomously on your behalf.
What does the future hold for the traditional NAC? Well, let’s just say no one’s wearing shades. But before we talk about where we’re going, let’s talk about where we’ve been.
On-Prem NAC Brings Security…and Complexity
The undeniable surge in cybercrime has advanced in lockstep with the internet’s evolution into an indispensable tool for daily life. This escalation has highlighted the glaring inadequacy of rudimentary access control systems, which rely solely on the binary question of “Do you have the correct password, yes or no?”
In response to this pressing need, NAC emerged, introducing a suite of sophisticated and innovative features designed to bolster security:
- Role-Based Access Control: This feature restricts user access to only the resources necessary for their job function, preventing unauthorized snooping into confidential information.
- Endpoint Risk Assessment: This feature ensures compliance with security policies by enforcing minimum operating system versions, up-to-date antivirus software, and essential updates, effectively cutting off non-compliant users.
- Guest Access: Instead of granting visitors access to the main network, this feature creates a separate guest portal, allowing internet use without exposing proprietary information.
These features certainly sound impressive, don’t they?
Regrettably, the implementation of these essential features brought with it a set of significant challenges:
- As Network Complexity Grows, So Does Deployment Complexity: Accurately determining the necessary processing power based on fluctuating network loads is a daunting task, more challenging than it might initially seem.
- The Rise of Consultants: Resource-strapped IT teams, lacking the bandwidth to navigate these complexities, often contacted external consultants for assistance. Software vendors capitalized on this by offering their own consulting services, which deprioritized user-friendliness and ease of use on their roadmaps.
- Downtime on Your Time: Once operational, NAC systems become critical infrastructure. Consequently, any upgrades or security patches necessitate after-hours work, leading to nights and weekends spent on maintenance—a taxing and quickly tiresome requirement.
- Scale to Suffer: After enduring the labyrinthine setup and extensive patching, businesses often find that growth outpaces their initial configurations, resulting in sluggish performance. This challenge is exacerbated in industries with seasonal demands, where capacity must either be rapidly scaled or left underutilized.
- Vendor Lock-In: Solutions from specific vendors are typically optimized to work seamlessly with their own hardware and software suites. However, modern networks are rarely homogenous, leading to additional complexity in integrating diverse systems.
Taking all of this into account, it’s clear that while NAC offers real security value, it also imposes real costs — costs many organizations find prohibitive.
Cloud Propels NAC into the Future
Enter the cloud era, which has revitalized NAC by addressing its most troublesome pain points and simplifying deployment in ways on-premises solutions cannot match:
- Simplified Setup: Cloud-based architecture eliminates the need to determine the number of virtual machines or the placement of policy servers, as all infrastructure is managed externally.
- No Maintenance: The burden of patches and maintenance, previously shouldered by IT teams, is now handled by cloud providers, freeing up nights and weekends.
- Scale in Seconds: Cloud services offer unparalleled elasticity, accommodating gradual growth, sudden spikes in demand, and seasonal fluctuations with ease.
- Vendor Agnostic: Cloud-based solutions, untethered to specific vendors, do not gate features to encourage additional purchases. Instead, they innovate universally.
- Rapid Innovation: As network needs evolve — BYOD, IoT, and now AI agents operating as autonomous identities on your network — cloud-native platforms adapt and ship new capabilities far faster than traditional solutions.
What’s Left for On-Prem NAC?
This isn’t to say that on-prem NAC is entirely obsolete. There remain scenarios where on-premises solutions are necessary:
- Air-gapped and OT networks: Defense, critical infrastructure, manufacturing floors, and ICS/SCADA environments often can’t connect to cloud-based services by design. On-prem NAC remains a fit here.
- Where internet is unreliable (or expensive): There are many regions of the world where the internet is simply not reliable enough (or always-on connections are prohibitively expensive) to use a solution that requires constant connectivity. An on-premise NAC would be a good fit in this scenario.
- Full control over infrastructure: There are those who wish to retain full control over their infrastructure and software; whether to satisfy stringent regulations, create custom solutions, or just maintain greater control over everything.
Nonetheless, the shift toward cloud-based services is unmistakable, and as their benefits continue to accrue, the prevalence of on-prem NAC is diminishing.
The End of Days for On-Prem NAC
While on-prem NAC retains its niche applications, the compelling advantages of cloud-native solutions — simplified deployment, zero-touch maintenance, elastic scale, and the ability to enforce policy against any identity, including AI agents — are driving a fundamental shift in how organizations think about network access control.
The footprint of traditional NAC is shrinking. The attack surface it was built to protect is unrecognizable. Organizations that want to stay ahead aren’t patching an aging architecture — they’re replacing it.