AAA Servers Explained: How RADIUS Secures Your Network
This video explores the three A’s of a RADIUS server—authentication, authorization, and accounting—and why these functions are foundational to modern network security. Historically known as AAA servers, RADIUS systems are responsible for verifying user and device identities, determining appropriate levels of network access, and logging every authentication event for visibility and compliance.
We explain how authentication validates credentials against identity providers, device management systems, and PKI environments, and how authorization uses VLAN segmentation to reduce risk and contain threats like malware or ransomware. The video also highlights the importance of accounting logs, which generate detailed records for troubleshooting failed logins and conducting security investigations. Understanding the three A’s is essential for IT administrators implementing 802.1X and zero trust network access strategies.