{"id":47402,"date":"2022-04-08T09:33:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T01:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/version-2.com\/?p=47402"},"modified":"2022-05-30T10:42:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T02:42:16","slug":"leading-uk-loan-lender-deploys-portnox-cloud-native-nac-across-75-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/version-2.com\/en\/2022\/04\/leading-uk-loan-lender-deploys-portnox-cloud-native-nac-across-75-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading UK Loan Lender Deploys Portnox Cloud-Native NAC Across 75 Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Everyday Loans is the UK\u2019s leading independent loan lender, operating dozens of branches across the country and boasting a personal, hands-on approach to lending, uncommon in today\u2019s digitally anonymous financial services industry.<\/p>

Today, personal lending in the UK has grown to become an industry approaching 24 billion GBP, with recent acceleration due to widespread financial uncertainty and hardship in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>

The company\u2019s IT department, led by Head of IT Tony Sheehan, experienced the tangible impact of this market growth as more and more customers walked through the doors of Everyday Loans\u2019 many branches, and as the company increased its employee headcount in response to demand.<\/p>

With more guests and customers on-site as well as a growing workforce, Sheehan and his team began to assess potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities \u2013 beginning with the corporate network.<\/p>

Sheehan describes the company\u2019s initial network security vulnerabilities: \u201cWe have a presence online, but we\u2019re predominantly a face-to-face lender. We have over 75 offices with many new and repeat customers coming in to discuss a loan, as well as part-time staff for cleaning, security and maintenance. As a result, we knew network authentication was an obvious vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>

Shifting Focus to Network Authentication<\/span><\/h3>

Implementing a solution for network authentication was a logical next step for Sheehan\u2019s IT team. Given the increased branch foot traffic, the company needed to ensure it had total device awareness across the network. \u201cThis was a concern voiced to our new CTO when he came on board. He agreed, so we went about looking at different tools for network authentication and access control,\u201d said Sheehan.<\/span><\/p>

Another factor driving a focus on NAC was staff turnover. \u201cLike every company, we have staff that leave us, and we need to ensure they can no longer access our network after they\u2019ve departed,\u201d said Sheehan. At that point in time, Everyday Loans knew that it\u2019s usage of a hidden SSID paired with a PSK was not up to snuff from a security standpoint. As Sheehan and his team began to research potential solutions for network authentication and access control, two requirements became apparent:<\/span><\/p>