User-ID
As enterprises continue to leverage Internet- and web-centric business models to aid expansion and increase efficiencies, visibility into what users are doing on the network becomes increasingly important. Dynamic IP addressing across both wired and wireless networks, and remote access by employees and non-employees alike have made the use of IP addresses an ineffective mechanism for monitoring and controlling user activity.
Palo Alto Networks User-ID technology addresses the lack of visibility into user activity by seamlessly integrating with Active Directory to dynamically link an IP address to user and group information. With visibility into user activity, enterprises can monitor and control applications and content traversing the network based on the user and group information stored within the user repository. User-ID enables IT to:
- Regain visibility into user activities relative to the applications in use and the content they may generate.
- Tighten security posture by implementing policies that ties application usage to specific users and groups, as opposed to simply the port and protocol.
- Reduce propagation of threats through more granular control over the applications traversing the network
User-ID gives an administrator complete visibility into the application activity at a user level, not just an IP address level and in so doing, addresses a key requirement in regaining control over the applications traversing the network. When used in conjunction with App-ID and Content-ID technologies, User-ID enables IT organizations to enjoy unmatched policy-based visibility and control over users, applications and threats
Learn more by downloading the User-ID datasheet 
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"The days when port = protocol = application are behind us. An increasing percentage of enterprise network traffic is being funneled through a few well-known ports, more port-hopping or dynamic application content, such as Web 2.0. In many cases, traffic is being encrypted."
Greg Young
Research Vice President
Gartner