Network security is a vital aspect of any network administration project. After deploying a new network or making changes to an existing one, you need to verify that your network is secure and compliant with best practices and standards. In this article, we will discuss how you can check network security after deployment using some common tools and methods.
One of the first steps to check network security after deployment is to scan your network for vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities are weaknesses or flaws in your network devices, systems, or applications that can be exploited by attackers to compromise your network. You can use various tools, such as Nmap, Nessus, or OpenVAS, to scan your network for vulnerabilities and identify the severity, impact, and remediation of each one. You should scan your network regularly and after any major changes to ensure that you are aware of any new or existing vulnerabilities and fix them as soon as possible.
Scanning can be disruptive for some critical or sensible applications so scanning needs to be assessed and tuned with application and software inventory. Unplanned scan can cause downtimes on critical systems if too intensive.
Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify potential weaknesses in your network. This involves using automated tools and manual techniques to simulate attacks and discover vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors.
Vulnerability scanning is the process of identifying security weaknesses and flaws in systems and software running on them. This is an integral component of a vulnerability management program, which has one overarching goal – to protect the organization from breaches and the exposure of sensitive data.
Another important step to check network security after deployment is to monitor your network traffic. Network traffic is the data that flows through your network, such as packets, protocols, ports, and connections. By monitoring your network traffic, you can detect any abnormal or malicious activity, such as unauthorized access, data breaches, denial-of-service attacks, or malware infections. You can use various tools, such as Wireshark, tcpdump, or NetFlow, to monitor your network traffic and analyze the source, destination, volume, and content of each packet. You should monitor your network traffic continuously and set up alerts or notifications for any suspicious or anomalous behavior.
Using Security information and event management, SIEM, an event and occurrence management system (SIEM),One of these tools is Splunk, a data analysis platform that helps organizations collect, analyze and transform data from various sources into useful information. known as a "data search engine," this tool uses powerful data search and analysis capabilities to help organizations make better decisions and improve performance. In this situation, improving the performance of Splunk using Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be done as follows: Predicting system problems: By using data analysis and artificial intelligence algorithms, system problems can be predicted and corrective actions can be arranged automatically.
In order to help security teams to check network security after deployment, find abnormalities, and potential threats, SIEM gathers and analyzes logs and event data from many sources all around the network. Network traffic is an area where SIEM thrives because it can be used to correlate events and identify suspicious patterns, such as port scanning and unexpected data transfers. It is a crucial tool for strengthening network security and guaranteeing the integrity of your network after deployment due to its real-time monitoring capabilities, compliance reporting, and integration with network traffic analysis tools.
Implement continuous network monitoring using security information and event management (SIEM) systems. This helps in detecting and responding to any abnormal or suspicious network activities in real-time.
A third step to check network security after deployment is to review your network policies and configurations. Network policies and configurations are the rules and settings that govern how your network devices, systems, and applications communicate and operate. By reviewing your network policies and configurations, you can ensure that they are consistent, accurate, and secure. You can use various tools, such as Ansible, Puppet, or Chef, to automate and manage your network policies and configurations and enforce compliance with industry standards and best practices. You should review your network policies and configurations periodically and after any changes to ensure that they are up to date and aligned with your network goals and requirements.
The first step for security management is to classify the organization's assets into two categories: tangible, intangible, levels of access to tangible components, levels of access to intangible components on both hardware and software levels, and prioritizing assets that are tangible, hardware or non-tangible. Software touch and risk assessment of these two classifications according to the organization's business continuity and vulnerability scanning for classification with higher risk assessment and higher priority and time and planning and training and cost for these assets. The most important option for security management is knowing the business of that domain and complying with the standards specific to that business.
A fourth step to check network security after deployment is to test your network performance and availability. Network performance and availability are the measures of how well your network delivers the expected service level and quality to your users and customers. By testing your network performance and availability, you can evaluate and improve your network speed, reliability, and efficiency. You can use various tools, such as Ping, Traceroute, or Iperf, to test your network performance and availability and measure the latency, bandwidth, jitter, and packet loss of your network. You should test your network performance and availability regularly and after any changes to ensure that you are meeting or exceeding your network service level agreements and expectations.
A fifth step to check network security after deployment is to conduct network audits and assessments. Network audits and assessments are the processes of examining and evaluating your network security posture and compliance with internal and external regulations and standards. By conducting network audits and assessments, you can identify and address any gaps, risks, or issues in your network security and compliance. You can use various tools, such as NIST, CIS, or ISO, to conduct network audits and assessments and follow the guidelines and frameworks of each one. You should conduct network audits and assessments periodically and after any changes to ensure that you are adhering to the network security and compliance policies and requirements of your organization and industry.
Conduct periodic security audits to assess compliance with industry standards and regulations. This ensures that your network security measures align with best practices.
A sixth and final step to check network security after deployment is to train and educate your network users and staff. Network users and staff are the people who access, use, and manage your network, such as employees, customers, or vendors. By training and educating your network users and staff, you can raise their awareness and knowledge of network security and compliance and foster a culture of security and responsibility. You can use various methods, such as online courses, webinars, or workshops, to train and educate your network users and staff and cover the topics and skills of network security and compliance. You should train and educate your network users and staff regularly and after any changes to ensure that they are following the network security and compliance best practices and standards.
Continuously educate employees about security best practices, such as avoiding suspicious emails, using strong passwords, and not sharing sensitive information.
The articles focuses on mainly local network infrastructure elements, and protection, without mentioning/highlighting a key part of it nowadays, the cloud security. Cloud security, and cloud resources requires more/different knowledge (ie. MFA/cloud storage/phishing/pre check of links, etc.). Although many of the mentioned tools can be used to investigate/monitor cloud vulnerabilities, the articles didn’t mention it. But it’s also true that the type of the infy that the article is all about, is not defined (local/hybrid/cloud infrastructure). Overall it’s a good summary, but either the AI prompt and/or the title should be more descriptive to get a better result. In this form, the article is good for a high level overview.
Regularly update and patch all network devices and software to address newly discovered vulnerabilities. Implement intrusion detection and prevention systems to swiftly identify and respond to any suspicious activities. Regularly review user access privileges and ensure that employees have the least amount of access necessary to perform their roles. Consider engaging third-party security experts for periodic penetration testing to identify potential weaknesses. Maintain comprehensive documentation of your network architecture and security measures for reference and auditing purposes. Lastly, stay informed about evolving cybersecurity threats and continually adapt your security measures to address emerging risks.