I. When the Network Boundary Is No Longer Equal to the Physical Boundary
Enterprise network security construction has long relied on a basic assumption: the network boundary is clear. Firewalls define the boundary between the internal and external networks, gateway devices control data flow between different security domains, and IT managers only need to guard a few key nodes to grasp the overall security situation.
This assumption is already difficult to sustain today. Remote work allows employees to access enterprise systems from home networks, cafés, and airports; cloud computing distributes business systems across multiple public and private cloud environments; and mobile devices allow the same employee to access enterprise resources through three or four different network paths within a single day. The network boundary is no longer the firewall at the exit of the physical data center, but every endpoint device that is accessing enterprise resources.
The direct consequence of this change is: if the endpoint itself is not controlled, network-layer security policies are effectively useless. After a laptop infected with malware accesses the enterprise intranet through VPN, the firewall will not stop it because it uses legitimate credentials; after an unauthorized personal device connects to the office network through Wi-Fi, if the admission system only checks the MAC address, it likewise cannot determine whether the device is secure. The starting point of network security is shifting from “guarding the pipe” to “controlling the endpoint.”
The network security capabilities in the Ping64 endpoint security management solution are developed precisely around this logic: with endpoints as the anchor, it establishes a continuously effective network behavior control system on the endpoint side through four layers of capabilities—network access control, unauthorized external connection management, network traffic auditing, and trusted network access.
II. Network Access Control: Bringing Permissions Down to the Process Level
Most enterprises approach network access control by “allowing or blocking by IP.” The R&D network segment can access the code repository, the office network segment can access the OA system, and the production network segment only allows O&M endpoints to connect. This type of control based on network segments or IP addresses can still function in environments with a limited number of endpoints and a stable network structure, but today, with diverse endpoint types and frequent personnel changes, it faces two difficult problems.
The first problem is the “mismatch between endpoint identity and user.” An office computer may be used by a regular employee in the morning and temporarily lent to an outsourced worker in the afternoon; a test endpoint may be shared by multiple project teams at the same time. Access control based on IP addresses cannot distinguish “who is currently using this device,” and therefore cannot dynamically adjust permissions based on user identity.
The second problem is the “lack of application-level permissions.” Traditional network access control usually only governs “whether an endpoint can access a certain network zone,” but does not distinguish “which application on the endpoint is initiating the access.” On an office computer, WeCom accessing the network is normal, but Xunlei or unauthorized remote control software on the same endpoint accessing the same network is clearly risky behavior.
Ping64’s network access control capability advances the control granularity from the “endpoint level” to the “process level.” Administrators can configure policies that allow only applications in the authorized process list to access specific network zones, while network requests from unauthorized processes are directly intercepted on the endpoint side. This means that even if an endpoint is infected with malware, the malicious process cannot use that endpoint to access the enterprise’s core business systems. At the same time, access permissions are linked to user identity and endpoint compliance status. When an employee changes roles or the endpoint security baseline is not met, network access permissions are automatically adjusted without manual intervention by administrators.
From the perspective of MLPS compliance, this capability directly responds to the requirements of “controlling network access” and “authenticating users.” Access control policies are no longer static ACL lists, but dynamic decisions based on multiple dimensions such as identity, device, process, and time.
III. Unauthorized External Connection Management: Closing Every Path That Bypasses the Security Boundary
The truly dangerous behavior in enterprise networks is often not “what was accessed,” but “what was bypassed.”
An office endpoint connects to the external network through a mobile hotspot and uploads internal files to a personal cloud drive; a production network endpoint establishes a second network card through a USB network adapter and forwards production data to the outside; an R&D endpoint connects to an external server through an unauthorized VPN tunnel and synchronizes code out. The common feature of these behaviors is that they bypass all network-layer security devices deployed by the enterprise—the firewall does not see the traffic, DLP does not inspect the content, and the audit system leaves no record.
The core problem that unauthorized external connection management must solve is: closing every path by which endpoints bypass the enterprise security boundary.
Ping64’s unauthorized external connection management capability continuously monitors network connection behavior on the endpoint side, identifying and blocking unauthorized network access methods. Specifically, the system can detect whether an endpoint attempts to establish external connections through the following means: unauthorized wireless network cards or USB network adapters, mobile phone USB tethering, unapproved VPN clients, proxy servers or tunneling tools, and dual-network-card bridging.
Once unauthorized external connection behavior is detected, Ping64 executes response actions according to preset policies: for general violations, it can merely log and alert; for high-risk behavior, it can directly block the network connection and notify the administrator; for endpoints that repeatedly violate the rules, it can automatically isolate them to a remediation zone and restore network permissions only after the administrator confirms compliance.
The value of this capability is particularly prominent in MLPS compliance. MLPS 2.0 explicitly requires that “the system should be able to discover unauthorized devices privately connecting to the internal network” and “the system should be able to discover internal network users privately connecting to the external network.” Ping64’s unauthorized external connection management elevates this requirement from “post-event auditing” to “real-time blocking,” truly turning compliance requirements into executable technical controls.
IV. Network Traffic Auditing: Making Every Network Communication Traceable
Network access control and unauthorized external connection management solve the question of “whether a connection can be made,” but enterprises also need to answer another question: after an endpoint connects to the network, what exactly is it transmitting?
The answer to this question cannot be solved by network-layer traffic mirroring alone. At the network layer, encrypted traffic (HTTPS, TLS) already accounts for more than 90%, and traditional deep packet inspection (DPI) can extract very limited information from encrypted traffic. If the audit system can only see that “an endpoint established an encrypted connection with an IP address” without knowing whether this connection corresponds to normal business system access or data exfiltration, the value of auditing is greatly reduced.
Ping64’s network traffic auditing capability starts from the endpoint side and, based on network protocol analysis, combines endpoint process information, user identity, and access targets for correlation analysis. The dimensions identified by the system include: the name and path of the process initiating network communication, target IP address and port, communication protocol type, data transmission volume, and communication time patterns. Through cross-analysis of these dimensions, the system can identify abnormal traffic patterns, such as:
- An endpoint continuously transmits large amounts of data to an overseas IP address during non-working hours;
- An unauthorized process frequently attempts to connect to known malware C2 servers;
- An endpoint initiates port scanning behavior against multiple internal servers within a short period;
- A user’s endpoint frequently accesses high-risk websites unrelated to business.
All network communication records are retained in the Ping64 unified audit center and can be searched and exported by dimensions such as endpoint, user, time, protocol type, and target address. After a security incident occurs, administrators can quickly reconstruct the complete network behavior trajectory of a specific endpoint within a given time window, providing evidence support for incident tracing and compliance auditing.
V. Trusted Network Access: No Access Without Meeting the Standard
Network access control, unauthorized external connection management, and traffic auditing constitute the foundational capabilities for network behavior control, but enterprises also need a unified “admission decision” mechanism: before an endpoint connects to the network, first confirm whether it is trusted.
Traditional network admission control (NAC) usually determines “whether to allow access” based on 802.1X authentication or MAC address whitelists, but this approach can only answer “whether this device is registered,” not “whether this device is currently secure.” If an endpoint that is registered but infected with a virus, missing critical patches, or has antivirus software disabled is allowed to connect to the network based solely on its MAC address, admission control loses its meaning.
Ping64’s trusted network access capability upgrades the admission decision from “identity authentication” to “continuous compliance verification.” Before an endpoint connects to the network, the Ping64 client automatically checks the following compliance items: whether operating system patches meet baseline requirements, whether antivirus software is running and its virus database is up to date, whether the Ping64 client itself is running normally, whether high-risk software or non-compliant processes exist, and whether security configurations comply with enterprise policies.
Only when all compliance items meet the standard is the endpoint allowed to connect to the network. If the endpoint does not meet the trusted network rules, the system executes corresponding measures according to preset policies: for minor non-compliance, it can restrict access to only the remediation resource zone (such as patch servers and antivirus update servers) to guide the user through remediation; for severe non-compliance, it directly blocks network access and alerts; for endpoints already online, if their security status changes (such as antivirus software being disabled), the system re-evaluates their trusted status and dynamically adjusts network permissions.
This “continuous verification, dynamic adjustment” mechanism transforms network security from “authenticate once, trust for a long time” to “continuously verify, never trust,” consistent with the core principles of the Zero Trust security philosophy.
VI. The Collaborative Logic of the Four Layers of Capabilities
The four capabilities—network access control, unauthorized external connection management, network traffic auditing, and trusted network access—are not independently operating functional modules in the Ping64 platform, but a collaborative system formed around the “full lifecycle of endpoint network behavior.”
Before an endpoint connects to the network, trusted network access performs compliance verification to decide whether to allow it; after the endpoint connects to the network, network access control finely governs the network resources it can access based on process and user identity; while the endpoint is running, unauthorized external connection management continuously monitors whether it attempts to bypass the security boundary; when network communication occurs, traffic auditing records and analyzes the content characteristics and behavior patterns of each connection.
The four layers of capabilities share the same data foundation and policy engine. Compliance check results from trusted network access can link with network access control to adjust permissions; abnormal behavior discovered by unauthorized external connection management can trigger in-depth analysis of that endpoint by traffic auditing; risk patterns identified by traffic auditing can in turn optimize the compliance baseline of trusted network access. This synergistic effect makes Ping64’s network security capabilities not a simple addition of four independent functions, but a continuously operating, mutually reinforcing governance loop.
For enterprises experiencing the normalization of remote work, diversification of endpoint types, and increasingly refined compliance requirements, the network security capabilities in the Ping64 endpoint security management solution provide a viable path to rebuild network defenses from the endpoint side. Network boundaries may disappear, but control over network behavior should not.
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