Here's how you can overcome common challenges in network security.

Studying routine and occasional business workflows gives key insights into security practices and gaps if any in maintaining cyber hygiene and data privacy standards. Working with business leads and CTO gives foundational input for risk assessment process and helps prioritize risk mitigation.

Organizations can detect possible risks and take proactive measures to reduce them by putting in place a strong risk assessment process. This will guarantee their long-term viability and success. Risk identification is the first step. Analyzing risks enables organizations to better understand the potential impact of identified threats. Mitigating risks is integral to the risk assessment. Monitor and review the identified risks

To address common challenges in network security, if you try these simple steps we can avoid lots of issues : Regularly update all your software to protect against potential vulnerabilities H/w S/w Both. Set up a strong password policy and make sure everyone follows it. TRannings to employees on security best practices and spotting phishing attacks. If really needed use multi-factor authentication to add an extra layer. Network Monitering is must. Back up will always save you . Finally, use firewalls and antivirus software on the end users to protect against malicious attacks and malware. By following these steps, I think we can really improve the network security.

Regular Updates and Patching: Ensure all software, hardware, and firmware are regularly updated. Strong Authentication Mechanisms: Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) to enhance access control. Encryption: Use encryption for data. Network Monitoring and Intrusion Detection: Deploy continuous network monitoring and intrusion detection systems (IDS). Employee Training and Awareness: Conduct regular security training sessions to educate employees about phishing social engineering. Access Control: Implement the principle of least privilege. Incident Response Plan: Develop and regularly update an incident response plan. Regular Security Audits: Perform periodic security audits and vulnerability assessments.

Understanding how technology maps to business processes is key to developing a strategy for assessing IT risks. Once the risks have been assessed referencing popular security standards such as ISO27001 and frameworks such as NIST 800-53 or NIST CSF for SMEs can be an excellent starting point for designing controls within a risk treatment plan to mitigate, transfer, avoid or accept risk. COBIT can also be considered as an overarching framework for a more holistic approach to IT governance and helping to translate IT spending to ROI for consumption by executive and board levels in an organization

A perfect example of an Access Control solution is NAC, for implementing restrictions on unauthorised access to network. Modern NAC Vendors include functionalities like role base access controls (RBAC), Multi-factor authentications (MFA) and user entity and behaviour analysis (UEBA) which are essential for protecting your network. Continuous monitoring of the compliance and posture assessment plays a crucial role in meeting and enforcing , strict compliances and Company policies. These solutions need to be a converging point of Old school solutions and the latest technologies.

Since there are new threats and tools coming in very often. It becomes really important to be up to date on the trends. To do so, reading up articles frequently and encouraging an environment where people can reach each other is very effective. Teams can have weekly or monthly sessions where one of the team members teaches a new concept.

Today's network security should be achieved using autonomous platforms like cloud-native SASE platforms. You want to ensure the platform you use will eliminate the need for patching appliances, etc., and should rely on cloud vendors. Move everything you can to the cloud to remove complexity and reduce the attack surface. The industry suffers too much from VPN gateways/firewall appliance vulnerabilities, which become an entry point for attackers instead of providing protection.

Implementing a Zero Trust model, which assumes that threats could exist both inside and outside the network, enforces strict verification for every user and device attempting to access resources, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Risk Assessment and Management: Conduct regular risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and prioritize them based on potential impact and likelihood. Strong Authentication and Access Control: Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) and strict access control policies to prevent unauthorized access. Regular Software Patching and Updates: Keep all systems, applications, and firmware updated with the latest security patches to mitigate known vulnerabilities. Network Segmentation: Divide networks into segments with different security levels and restrict access between them to contain potential breaches.