Which statement best describes Port-Based Network Access Control (PNAC)?

Which statement best describes Port-Based Network Access Control (PNAC)?

• A. It authenticates devices before network access is granted
• B. It filters traffic by MAC addresses
• C. It logs all login attempts
• D. It manages IP addressing

Answer: (A)

Port-Based Network Access Control focuses on gating access to the network at the switch or access point port by requiring the device to prove its identity before any normal traffic is allowed. In practice, a port begins in a restricted state and, via 802.1X, a device (the supplicant) presents credentials to an authentication server through the authenticator. When authentication succeeds, the port switches to an approved state and regular network traffic can flow. This ensures unauthorized devices can’t reach network resources simply by connecting to a port. The idea is about authenticating first, not just filtering or logging or handling IP addresses. MAC filtering would be a separate method of controlling access at a different level, logging login attempts can happen as part of the process but isn’t the defining function, and IP addressing is handled by DHCP/IPAM, not PNAC.

Port-Based Network Access Control focuses on gating access to the network at the switch or access point port by requiring the device to prove its identity before any normal traffic is allowed. In practice, a port begins in a restricted state and, via 802.1X, a device (the supplicant) presents credentials to an authentication server through the authenticator. When authentication succeeds, the port switches to an approved state and regular network traffic can flow. This ensures unauthorized devices can’t reach network resources simply by connecting to a port.

The idea is about authenticating first, not just filtering or logging or handling IP addresses. MAC filtering would be a separate method of controlling access at a different level, logging login attempts can happen as part of the process but isn’t the defining function, and IP addressing is handled by DHCP/IPAM, not PNAC.