Network Security

What Is Network Security?

“Network security” refers to any activity designed to protect the usability and integrity of your network and data. It includes both hardware and software technologies. Effective network security manages access to the network. It targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading on your network.

How does network security work?

Network security combines multiple layers of defenses at the edge and in the network. Each network security layer implements policies and controls. Authorized users gain access to network resources, but malicious actors are blocked from carrying out exploits and threats.

How do I benefit from network security?

Digitization has transformed our world. How we live, work, play, and learn have all changed. Every organization that wants to deliver the services that customers and employees demand must protect its network. Network security also helps you protect proprietary information from attack. Ultimately it protects your reputation.

Types of network security

Access control

Not every user should have access to your network. To keep out potential attackers, you need to recognize each user and each device. Then you can enforce your security policies. You can block noncompliant endpoint devices or give them only limited access. This process is network access control (NAC).

Antivirus and antimalware software

“Malware,” short for “malicious software,” includes viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, and spyware. Sometimes malware will infect a network but lie dormant for days or even weeks. The best antimalware programs not only scan for malware upon entry, but also continuously track files afterward to find anomalies, remove malware, and fix damage.

Application security

Any software you use to run your business needs to be protected, whether your IT staff builds it or whether you buy it. Unfortunately, any application may contain holes, or vulnerabilities, that attackers can use to infiltrate your network. Application security encompasses the hardware, software, and processes you use to close those holes.

Behavioral analytics

To detect abnormal network behavior, you must know what normal behavior looks like. Behavioral analytics tools automatically discern activities that deviate from the norm. Your security team can then better identify indicators of compromise that pose a potential problem and quickly remediate threats.

Data loss prevention

Organizations must make sure that their staff does not send sensitive information outside the network. Data loss prevention, or DLP, technologies can stop people from uploading, forwarding, or even printing critical information in an unsafe manner.

Email security

Email gateways are the number one threat vector for a security breach. Attackers use personal information and social engineering tactics to build sophisticated phishing campaigns to deceive recipients and send them to sites serving up malware. An email security application blocks incoming attacks and controls outbound messages to prevent the loss of sensitive data.

Firewalls

Firewalls put up a barrier between your trusted internal network and untrusted outside networks, such as the Internet. They use a set of defined rules to allow or block traffic. A firewall can be hardware, software, or both. Cisco offers unified threat management (UTM) devices and threat-focused next-generation firewalls.

Intrusion prevention systems

An intrusion prevention system (IPS) scans network traffic to actively block attacks. Cisco Next-Generation IPS (NGIPS) appliances do this by correlating huge amounts of global threat intelligence to not only block malicious activity but also track the progression of suspect files and malware across the network to prevent the spread of outbreaks and reinfection.

Mobile device security

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting mobile devices and apps. Within the next 3 years, 90 percent of IT organizations may support corporate applications on personal mobile devices. Of course, you need to control which devices can access your network. You will also need to configure their connections to keep network traffic private.

Network segmentation

Software-defined segmentation puts network traffic into different classifications and makes enforcing security policies easier. Ideally, the classifications are based on endpoint identity, not mere IP addresses. You can assign access rights based on role, location, and more so that the right level of access is given to the right people and suspicious devices are contained and remediated.

Security information and event management

SIEM products pull together the information that your security staff needs to identify and respond to threats. These products come in various forms, including physical and virtual appliances and server software.

VPN

A virtual private network encrypts the connection from an endpoint to a network, often over the Internet. Typically, a remote-access VPN uses IPsec or Secure Sockets Layer to authenticate the communication between device and network.

Web security

A web security solution will control your staff’s web use, block web-based threats, and deny access to malicious websites. It will protect your web gateway on site or in the cloud. “Web security” also refers to the steps you take to protect your own website.

Wireless security

Wireless networks are not as secure as wired ones. Without stringent security measures, installing a wireless LAN can be like putting Ethernet ports everywhere, including the parking lot. To prevent an exploit from taking hold, you need products specifically designed to protect a wireless network.

Identify your connectivity needs and what type of connectivity supports those needs.

Your network connects your business with crucial partners, stakeholders and customers. As you move more of your operations, CRM and communication into the digital realm, you also increase your risk. Every piece of data that moves across your network has a value associated with it and cybercriminals are working around-the-clock to find weaknesses in your connectivity solution. Below are four ways to assess your network security:

Different types of environments require different types of connections. Depending on the nature of the data you are transferring, you may be considering whether an Internet connection, Ethernet connection or private connection is right for your IT needs. It is vital that you understand what type of security protection is offered by whichever connectivity solution you choose. Additionally, your security and compliance requirements may require your data be separated from other IP traffic.

Utilize an Anti-DDoS solution to protect against malicious traffic.

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are increasing in frequency. Citing Gartner’s forecast that the number of connected devices will reach 20.7 billion by 2020, SC Magazine predicts “the threat of DDoS attacks from increasingly sophisticated IoT botnets will only grow.” An advanced Anti-DDoS solution is crucial to keeping malicious traffic from overwhelming your system. This solution adds a higher level of security while eliminating the undesired costs associated with overages from malicious traffic.

Ensure your connection is monitored 24 x 7 x 365.

As you move highly valuable, mission-critical data across your network, you’ll want an expert team monitoring those connections and ensuring any problems are quickly identified and resolved. In addition to ensuring your network’s performance is optimized, around-the-clock monitoring is necessary to assess vulnerabilities, identify threats and neutralize any malicious traffic.

Make sure your security protocols in place to protect from internal and external intrusion.

Your security strategy must factor in both external and internal factors. While cybercriminals are working hard to penetrate your defenses, internal actors are actually responsible for the majority of breaches. The Harvard Business Review recently highlighted the fact that organizational insiders are responsible for 60% of all cyberattacks (and three-quarters of those internal parties acted with malicious intent). Your security strategy should feature both physical and logical protections that include perimeter security, active monitoring, data encryption and two-factor authentication, penetration tests and instruction detection.

Network security must be a top IT and organizational priority. The costs associated with downtime, compromised data and damaged reputation are often severe. Now’s the time to assess how secure your connections are. Contact us today to discuss your network security strategy and learn more about the benefits and protections offered by mojit Connectivity Solutions.