Enterprises are facing a constant battle against increasing threats to network security, as cybercriminals use a variety of tactics, such as phishing, ransomware, and social engineering, to breach organizations and profit from their attacks. According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach has risen to nearly $5 million, a 10% increase from the previous year.
With the advancement of AI, there are concerns about cybercriminals using AI as a weapon to compromise a company’s AI systems. In response to these evolving threats, enterprises are racing to implement network security management tools and processes to enhance their overall security posture.
Effective network security management is essential for every enterprise to protect their critical operations and assets. This defense strategy involves implementing the right security policies, tools, processes, and practices aligned with the organization’s operational objectives. Enterprises must also comply with government regulations, corporate mandates, and ensure data integrity, security, and infrastructure availability while balancing productivity.
To bolster network security, enterprises must leverage essential technologies such as firewalls, VPNs, intrusion detection systems, multifactor authentication, identity and access management, security information and event management, unified threat management, DoS mitigation, and incident response services. Additionally, analytics and AI play a crucial role in enhancing the efficacy of these tools.
Despite the improvements in network security tools, there are challenges that network security engineers face in protecting network assets. Enterprise networks are highly distributed and virtual, lack observability, and security controls sometimes hinder infrastructure performance and user experience. Integrating security data from disparate sources in hybrid environments remains a challenge, making it difficult to obtain an accurate end-to-end perspective of network activity.
To keep networks secure, organizations are adopting restricted access measures, including implementing zero-trust architecture, which assumes no access until authentication and authorization take place. Zero trust applies granular authentication factors like user identity, device type, activity, query, and location to ensure secure access. Network segmentation, least-privilege access, and ongoing authentication and tracking further enhance network security.
Effective network security management best practices encompass deploying multilayered security, having an effective networking monitoring service, regularly updating software and hardware, automating software patching, conducting vulnerability assessments, applying MFA, implementing network segregation, deploying a zero-trust architecture, defining an incident response plan, preventing insider theft or data loss, recognizing baseline network activity, and proactively testing systems for vulnerabilities.
Ultimately, effective network security management relies on the human element, as organizations must ensure that the right practices and processes are in place. With the constant challenge of attracting and retaining cybersecurity personnel, establishing a reliable cybersecurity environment becomes increasingly important in safeguarding enterprise assets and operations.