Network security is the protection of the access to files and directories in a computer network against hacking, misuse and unauthorized changes to the system. This means that a well-implemented network security blocks virus, malware, hackers, etc. from accessing or altering secure information.
network security consists of three main aspects:
- Protection: You should configure your systems and networks as correctly as possible
- Detection: You must be able to identify when the configuration has changed or when some network traffic indicates a problem
- Reaction: After identifying problems quickly, you must respond to them and return to a safe state as rapidly as possible
Network security methods
- Access control: You should be able to block unauthorized users and devices from accessing your network. Users that are permitted network access should only be able to work with the limited set of resources for which they’ve been authorized.
- Anti-malware: Viruses, worms, and trojans by definition attempt to spread across a network, and can lurk dormant on infected machines for days or weeks. Your security effort should do its best to prevent initial infection and also root out malware that does make its way onto your network.
- Application security: Insecure applications are often the vectors by which attackers get access to your network. You need to employ hardware, software, and security processes to lock those apps down.
- Behavioral analytics: You should know what normal network behavior looks like so that you can spot anomalies or breaches as they happen.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Organizations should guarantee that their staff does not send sensitive information outside the network. They should thus use DLP technologies, network security measures, that prevent people from uploading, forwarding, or even printing vital information in an unsafe manner.
- Email Security: Email gateways are considered to be the number one threat vector for a security breach. Attackers use social engineering tactics and personal information in order to build refined phishing campaigns to deceive recipients and then send them to sites serving up malware. An email security application is capable of blocking incoming attacks and controlling outbound messages in order to prevent the loss of sensitive data.
- Firewalls: Firewalls place a barrier between your trusted internal network and untrusted outside networks, like the Internet. A set of defined rules are employed to block or allow traffic. A firewall can be software, hardware, or both. The free firewall efficiently manages traffic on your PC, monitors in/out connections, and secures all connections when you are online.
- VPN: A tool (typically based on IPsec or SSL) that authenticates the communication between a device and a secure network, creating a secure, encrypted “tunnel” across the open internet.
- Web security: You need to be able to control the internal staff’s web use in order to block web-based threats from using browsers as a vector to infect your network.
- Intrusion detection and prevention: These systems scan network traffic to identify and block attacks, often by correlating network activity signatures with databases of known attack techniques.
- Mobile device and wireless security: Wireless devices have all the potential security flaws of any other networked gadget but also can connect to just about any wireless network anywhere, requiring extra scrutiny.
- Network segmentation: Software-defined segmentation puts network traffic into different classifications and makes enforcing security policies easier.
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