With the acquisition of Niara, HPE Aruba goes deeper into the domain of user & entity behavior analytics (UEBA)

HPE Aruba, the leading provider of wireless networking gears & solutions to firms and organizations, takes a definitive plunge into the rapidly evolving field of user & entity behavior analytics (UEBA) by acquiring Niara Inc. With Niara in its fold, HPE Aruba strengthens the security of the wireless edge its campus Wi-Fi connectivity provides.
The Niara machine-learning and incident investigation workflow features, including Adaptive Learning and Analyst Playbooks, enable more precise attack detection for high-value assets and devices and users, resulting in faster decision making for remediation and response. When these new Niara features are combined with Aruba’s industry-leading ClearPass Policy Manager, individual incidents that reach a certain risk score within the Niara solution (ranging from 1 to 100) can use pre-defined ClearPass policies to automatically quarantine, or completely shut off network access, providing security teams with additional time to thoroughly investigate the incidents.
“It’s no secret that today’s advanced threats are more easily penetrating legacy perimeter security systems and, once inside, have complete, unfettered access to multitudes of corporate data, as well as IoT devices that control many operations within factories and buildings,” said Robert Westervelt, Security Research Manager at IDC. “Firewalls, security information management systems, and other perimeter systems remain highly useful and necessary weapons against attacks. However, interior-based solutions that leverage behavioral analysis, combined with policy enforcement solutions that work harmoniously with the majority of perimeter-based tools, are today’s best-available ‘one-two punch’ defense”, added Westervelt.
Vinay Anand, VP & GM, ClearPass Security, at Aruba, said, “For security and network infrastructure teams, it’s a never-ending war against hackers.” “New features built into the Niara security solution are providing enterprises with the equivalent of precision-guided missiles that work closely together with perimeter-based systems to better protect data and other corporate assets against current and future next-gen hacker attacks. With Niara, Aruba is the only security vendor that can identify potential threats and immediately take action to shut down an incident before damage occurs”, explained Anand.
“The pace of our standalone UEBA and security analytics product innovation is accelerating with the support of the Aruba integration team,” said Sriram Ramachandran, CEO, Niara. “Now that we are an essential part of the ClearPass security portfolio, we remain committed to providing an open, complementary multi-vendor solution, designed to enhance the value of a customer’s perimeter security investments”, added Ramachandran.