Patent ID: 7814531

Claim:
A network access control (NAC) method comprising: receiving a request at a network access control module to connect a device to a network; if a security policy is received for the connection of the device, applying the received security policy for the device; if a security policy for the connection of the device is not received, then: determining the domain of the device and establishing a security policy for the connection of the device based on the determined domain as follows: determining whether the device is in an enterprise domain, and, if not, setting a non-enterprise security policy, and if the device is in the enterprise domain, then determining whether the device is in a network access control domain, and, if the device is not in a network access control domain, then setting a non-NAC environment security policy, and, if the device is in a network access control domain, then setting a non-compliant enterprise host security policy, and applying the established security policy to the device; and determining whether to approve the request to connect the device to the network based at least in part on the security policy applied for the device; wherein applying a security policy comprises enforcing security policy compliance for devices connecting to the network.