| Device authentication is a solution enabling an organization to manage both users and devices.
It is an additional layer of authentication ensuring only specific pre-authorized devices operated by specific pre-authorized users can access the network.
Device authentication requires unique identification and authentication that may be defined by type, by specific device, or by a combination of type and device as deemed appropriate by the organization.
The application typically uses either shared known information (e.g., Media Access Control [MAC] or Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol [TCP/IP] addresses) for identification or an organizational authentication solution (e.g., IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol [EAP], Radius server with EAP-Transport Layer Security [TLS] authentication, Kerberos) to identify and authenticate devices on local and/or wide area networks.
The required strength of the device authentication mechanism is determined by the security categorization of the information system.
Bidirectional authentication provides a means for both connecting parties to mutually authenticate one another and cryptographically based authentication provides a secure means of authenticating without the use of clear text passwords. |
