It’s time for a network assessment
The Great Resignation. Work From Home (WFH). Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The Global Pandemic. What do these business trends have in common? These individual trends have all converged to create a dramatic change in the way people work leaving organizations more vulnerable to cybercrime and affecting network performance.
Technology Changes in the Office
WFH and BYOD have been emerging business trends for the last few years. In fact, Network Critical wrote a blog in 2019 about how they were changing the network landscape. As the 8-5 office-based workday was challenged by technology that allowed work from anywhere, changes needed to be made in how networks supported workers.
As this trend started to take root, the business computer merged with the personal smartphone. Personal devices such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets are now standard tools for knowledge workers. Moving applications to the cloud further erodes the direct control organizations have over their network and associated proprietary information. The corporate control of tethered desktop computers with closed-loop access to network resources is now quite muddled.
Network TAPs and Packet brokers such as the Network Critical’s SmartNA-XL or the SmartNA-PortPlus became essential tools for monitoring traffic and analyzing network performance because they provide 100% network visibility. However, with all these challenging changes keeping your network updated and well managed is becoming a difficult task. Network Critical’s Drag-n-Vu GUI is the right tool for administrators to do this job. The intelligent and intuitive graphical user interface enables fast, error-free configuration and simplifies change management. Now you can monitor your network traffic with a world-class and up-to-date system.
External phenomenons
The global Covid 19 pandemic, as we know, has caused dramatic changes in our personal lives and our business lives. The initial business shut-down sent workers home with their personal devices. WFH and BYOD are rapidly becoming the new normal for many workers who are now realizing they can be equally or more productive working remotely.
As users now access corporate servers from personal devices, they are opening the door to a variety of scams and attacks such as phishing and ransomware. The requirement for more robust network monitoring and the introduction of specialized cyber security tools is paramount to heading off attacks. Network Critical has recently launched INVIKTUS, an internal layer of security to protect your network. This groundbreaking technology is completely invisible to the network which makes security devices undetectable to any intruder. Keeping your network safe from cybercrime.
Another big issue is The Great Resignation phenomenon, which is not yet on the radar and is affecting corporate network security. Workers who are leaving their positions are taking with them the personal devices that once had full network access. These devices may contain corporate passwords, links, and other proprietary information. Because these devices do not belong to the organization, they cannot be retrieved. Therefore, the proprietary information loaded on those devices is also unretrievable and hackable.
It is essential for companies now to upgrade their network infrastructure and security, and adapt to a level of flexibility and efficiency that may not have been required in the past.
System Assessment
Here are some critical questions to ask as you review your network strategy:
Do I have 100% visibility on every link? It is important to have permanent monitoring of all links. You cannot block attacks that you cannot see.
Are security tools such as firewalls and Intrusion Prevention devices connected permanently to all links or only to critical links?
Is there a need for additional specialized security tools beyond basic firewalls to secure company confidential information and network infrastructure?
Are network tools relying on potentially overwhelmed SPAN connections that can drop packets during busy traffic periods? Complete data is the key to accurate monitoring.
Right now is the time to review your network strategy, policies, and equipment. The equipment that was in place a few years ago may well be incapable of keeping up with the security demands of the pandemic work world.
There have been many technological advances in network TAPs and Packet Brokers over the last few years that should be reviewed. Newer intelligent TAPs and Packet Brokers such as the hybrid SmartNA-XL, SmartNA-PortPlus, and HyperCore are designed to provide clear and complete visibility. These tools are foundational to a strong cyber security strategy and do not impact network performance or availability.
The Network Critical portfolio of TAPs and Packet Brokers allows fail-safe connection for monitoring and specialized security tools to help block malicious attacks before they do damage. Do not wait for a crippling breach to update your cyber security profile. It is better to block attacks rather than attempt to repair the damage to the network, customers, and reputation caused by malicious attacks.
For more information on how these new TAPs and Packet Brokers can protect your network, your employees and your company go to www.networkcritical.com/contact-us.
Be cyber safe!
