Network Associates, Inc. today announced that it has joined the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), an open industry standards organization whose specifications help vendors build products that let users protect critical data and information. Network Associates support for TCG extends upon its McAfee® Trusted Connection Strategy, a strategy that is focused on enforcing security compliance on systems before they connect to the network.

As part of the collaboration, Network Associates® will help develop the Trusted Network Connect open specification, which will enable network administrators to enforce security policies on systems before they connect to multi-vendor networks. The specification complements TCG’s efforts to provide building blocks to help secure critical data and information across a variety of platforms. The Trusted Network Connect specification is expected to be available later this year.

“The Trusted Computing Group is pleased to welcome Network Associates to participate in the Trusted Network Connect,” said Jim Ward, president of the Trusted Computing Group. “The McAfee Trusted Connection Strategy will bring a significant level of expertise to the development of future specifications and standards, helping to enable system security compliance enforcement using open industry standards.”

“Network Associates is working with the Trusted Computing Group to develop an open specification to help validate that systems connecting to the network, from both internal and external access points, are brought to compliance before they are allowed to connect,” said Raj Dhingra, vice president product marketing for Network Associates. “The initiative aligns seamlessly with the McAfee Trusted Connection Strategy and helps to rid the network of ‘rogue systems’ accessing multi-vendor networks-ensuring that malicious code threats, such as the recent Sasser worm, are prevented from entering the network.”