Patent attributes
An administrator creates an access policy for a network resource using an access server. The access policy may specify device characteristics that are needed to access the network resource. These characteristics may relate to the type of user device, the computing environment of the user device, installed applications and versions, installed certificates, and physical characteristics. The access policy for the network resource may be assigned to a user or to groups of users. Later, when the user attempts to access the network resource, an application installed on the user device provides a file containing the characteristics of the user device to the access server. The access server determines whether the characteristics of the file satisfies the access policy associated with the user and network resource, and if so permits access to the network resource. Else, access to the network resource is denied.