Essentials of enterprise network security

Network security is of utmost importance to businesses today. The landscape of security threats grows more dangerous as data breaches become commonplace and more malware and threat actors are developed by the day. To give you an idea, there is an attack made by a hacker every 39 seconds. Security technologies and practices have no choice but to evolve to keep up.

Without the proper network security, your business is vulnerable to threats that can lead to a number of varied adverse consequences, such as data, productivity, and revenue loss, leaked trade secrets, a ruined reputation, or ultimately a business that can’t recover. The facts are alarming. For instance, the average cost of a data breach alone is estimated to inflate to $150 million in 2020 as organizations large and small fall prey. And some industries are so far behind in security that most of its businesses have been malware-infected.

Your business needs a smart network security strategy. Here are the fundamental network security practices you need to adopt.

Network performance monitoring (NPM)

A network’s performance can be affected by security threats. An NPM solution can spot issues that slow down a network or cause parts of it to malfunction — telltale signs of security threats. They include overloaded resources, excessive data usage, resource-draining applications, disabled devices, and destroyed data.

An NPM solution will sweep your entire network to alert your personnel even as performance issues and unusual activities happen. How? Here are some examples. An NPM solution has a baseline established for your network’s data traffic, which can be used to detect attacks that result in abnormal data traffic or data spikes. It can also check on the state of your network hardware by pinging every device. If a device doesn’t respond, the NPM solution can flag the network team to investigate if a network security threat is disabling devices.

Network detection and response (NDR)

Traditional network security solutions like firewalls typically only defend the perimeter of your network, not the internal infrastructure. While it is still necessary, perimeter network security doesn’t address issues that have slipped in undetected.

Your enterprise network needs an NDR solution to discover malware and other threats that have made it past your perimeter and are lurking within your network. Because an NDR solution is always on the hunt for suspicious behavior or threats, your internal network is not left undefended. Once a potential threat is found, it alerts your network team, analyzes the threat, and may take action to remediate the threat if possible. The NDR solution will immediately administer an automated incident response to stop the threat.

Network intrusion detection system (NIDS)

A NIDS is a viable option to an NDR solution. NIDS tools discover hidden network threats by analyzing network traffic for malicious behavior and other signs that a threat has entered. These tools boost other security measures in monitoring local network traffic.

Security awareness training

Sometimes, the most dangerous threat to your network are members of your own organization. According to research, 64% of insider threats are caused by users who introduce risk due to careless behavior or human error. The stories of ransomware freezing the services of entire companies due to inadvertent behavior are already all too common. If an employee on your network carelessly accesses a malware-infected website or downloads an infected attachment from an email, your entire network and its data could be hijacked.

Aside from having the right tools, any enterprise network security will include regular training of employees on basic network security practices. Aside from awareness of security policies and prevalent threats, training includes the proper use of personal mobile devices at work and familiarity with phishing red flags.

Network security monitoring

Even the best cybersecurity solutions in the world require ongoing testing and reporting. You need to stay on top of your security solutions. This involves constant testing of both on-site and off-site systems for weak spots. If any gaps are observed, an MSP like SpectrumWise can recommend solutions to address them.

SpectrumWise protects your company’s systems with a network security plan that’s customized to your needs. And our experts are always up to date with the latest cyberthreats. If you are looking for a comprehensive security platform that intimately understands your company’s IT infrastructure, contact us today.

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