The recent pandemic has increased the dependence of internet to maintain the minimum subsistence of living. Be it our professional, social, business or personal activities, today it is difficult to move even one step forward without a computer, laptop or mobile along with an internet connection. But how many of us consider the fact – Is our network secure?
Network Security is a broad concept that covers a large number of technologies, devices and processes. To put in a simple way, it is a set of rule and configurations designed to protect the integrity, confidentiality and accessibility of computer networks and data using both software and hardware technologies. An effective network security gives access to the network, aims and neutralizes a variety of threats and prevents them from an ever growing landscape of cyber crimes.
In today’s complex network architecture, cyber threats are dynamic in nature with the hackers always trying to find and exploit vulnerabilities in areas like devices, data, applications, users and locations. So one has to adhere to the different network security management tools to stay one step ahead of these threats. It is essential that these protection measures are in place to avoid disruption and damage to an individual or an organization’s bottom line and reputation.
The most common threats to computer systems include:
 Malicious programs like viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, malware, adware and botnets
 Zero-day and zero-hour attacks
 Hacker Attacks
 Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS)
 Data theft
These threats look to exploit:
 Unsecured wireless networks
 Unpatched software and hardware
 Unsecured websites
 Potentially unwanted applications (PUAs)
 Weak Passwords
 Lost devices
 Unwitting users or users with malicious intent.
Network security attacks are unauthorized actions against private, corporate or governmental IT assets with the intention to destroy them, modify, or steal sensitive data. Depending on the techniques and methods used by the attacker we distinguish the attack as an active cyber attack, a passive type attack or a combination of the two.
Active Attack - An active attack is a network exploit in which a hacker attempts to alter system resources or effect their operation involving some modification of the data stream or creation of false statement. Due to active attack a system is always damaged and system resources can be changed. Importantly, in active attack the victim gets informed about the attack. The different types of active attacks are:
a) Masquerade
b) Modification of messages
c) Repudiation
d) Replay
e) Denial of service
Passive Attack - A Passive Attack is a network attack in which attempts are made by monitoring or sometimes scanning a system to learn or make use of information from the system but it does not affect system resources. Often they are in the nature of eavesdropping on or monitoring of transmission for open port or vulnerabilities which is a danger for confidentiality. Significantly, in passive attack the victim does not get informed about the attack. The types of passive attacks are:
a) Release of message content
b) Traffic analysis
To avoid financial and reputational loss, it is important that individuals and organizations focus on network security. Some basic elements of network security controls are:
a) Network Access Control (NAC)
b) Application Security
c) Firewall Security
d) Virtual Private Network
e) Wireless Security
Here are a few tips for proper network security controls.
ï¶ Always keep the network devices updated and patched
ï¶ Always try to use strong password
ï¶ Always use VPN to connect internal network from outside network
ï¶ Always manage user access privileges
ï¶ Always check for inactive accounts and clean up
To enable proper network security and to prevent any breach in its functionality it is essential to find the assurance and support in the able supervision of a competent cyber security service provider who meets all the industry standards for its operations.
