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Types of Network Security Canada

One of the fastest-growing types of criminal conduct is cybercrime. By 2021, the worldwide cost of repairing the damage caused by cybercrime is expected to exceed $6 trillion, more than twice the cost in 2015. The average cost of a cyberattack, according to some studies, is more than $1 million, and this figure is anticipated to climb.

It’s more critical than ever for you as a managed services provider (MSP) to guarantee that your clients have the greatest network security available. Unfortunately, hackers and cyber attackers are persistent and cunning, so you’ll need to use networking security technologies to set up and maintain a strong line of protection. 

As a result, MSPs must assist clients in realizing the value and need of adhering to network security best practices.

This article will go over the most important things you should know about the various kinds of network security technologies. Recent assaults on MSPs have highlighted the need for good network security. If you already know network security principles, consider this a refresher course to help convey these concepts to your clients.

What are Network Security Types available?

The many countermeasures used to secure the network and the data stored on or travelling over it are called network security. Network security protects the network against cyberattacks, hacking attempts, and human error. Hardware, software, and cloud services are the three main components of network security.

Hardware appliances are servers or devices that provide security operations in a network. Hardware may be put out of the route of network traffic, called “out-of-line,” but it’s more typical to install it in the path of traffic, called “in-line.” In-line security appliances have the benefit of being able to halt data packets that have been marked as possible threats. In contrast, out-of-line appliances just monitor traffic and deliver notifications when anything dangerous is detected. Network security software, including antivirus apps, may be deployed on devices and nodes to offer further detection and threat mitigation.

Offloading infrastructure to a cloud provider is what cloud services refer to. Incoming network traffic is diverted to the cloud service instead of passing via in-line hardware equipment. Before traffic is permitted into your network, the cloud service does a check and blocks possible dangers for you.

Every excellent network security system employs various network security techniques to establish a layered defensive system. This method is based on the idea that if a danger succeeds in getting past one security layer, the other levels will prevent it from obtaining access to the network. Each layer includes active monitoring, threat detection, and threat mitigation capabilities to make the network as safe as possible.

What are the different types of network security tools and devices?

You may include a variety of networking security products in your service portfolio. The list below is by no means complete, but it does cover some of the most common security tools:

  • Access control – Controlling which users have access to the network or particularly critical adifferent types of network security toolsreas refer to. You may restrict network access to just recognized users and devices using security rules or provide restricted access to non-compliant devices or guest users.
  • Antivirus and anti-malware software – Malware, sometimes known as “malicious software,” is a kind of cyberattack that comes in various forms and sizes. Some variants function fast to erase files or damage data, while others may remain dormant for lengthy periods, silently allowing hackers access to your computers. The finest antivirus software will examine activity log files for evidence of unusual behaviour or long-term trends, monitor network traffic in real-time for malware, and provide threat mitigation capabilities.
  • Application security – Hackers may access your networking environment using any device or software product you use. As a result, it’s critical to keep all applications up to date and patched to prevent cyber attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities to get access to sensitive data. The mix of hardware, software, and best practices you employ to monitor concerns and rectify holes in your security coverage is referred to as application security.
  • Behavioural analytics – Security support professionals must create a baseline of what defines typical behaviour for a specific customer’s users, apps, and network to spot aberrant activity. Behavioural analytics software is intended to aid in the detection of common signs of abnormal behaviour, which may be a symptom of a security breach. MSPs can more rapidly discover issues and isolate dangers if they have a deeper understanding of each customer’s baselines.
  • Data loss prevention – Data loss prevention (DLP) technologies are those that prevent workers from releasing important corporate information or sensitive data outside the network, whether unintentionally or maliciously. DLP technology can block behaviours like uploading and downloading files, sending communications, and printing that might expose data to malicious actors outside the networking environment.
  • Distributed denial of service prevention – DDoS assaults (distributed denial of service) are becoming more widespread. They work by flooding a network with one-sided connection requests, causing the network to fail as a result. A DDoS prevention tool scrubs incoming traffic to filter out potentially dangerous traffic before it reaches your firewalls. It may be a physical device that works to filter out traffic before it reaches your firewalls.
  • Email security – When it comes to adopting networking security technologies, email is very vital to consider. Scams, phishing, malware, and questionable links are just some of the danger vectors that may be attached to or included in emails. Because many of these threats may exploit personal information to look more credible, an organization’s staff must have enough security awareness training to recognize when an email is suspect. Email security software filters out incoming threats and may also be set up to restrict specific data types from being shared in outgoing messages.
  • Firewalls – Another typical component of a network security paradigm is firewalls. They act as a kind of gatekeeper between a network and the rest of the internet. By matching data packets against specified rules and regulations, firewalls filter incoming and, in certain situations, outgoing traffic, preventing dangers from gaining access to the network.
  • Mobile device security – The great majority of us have mobile devices that contain personal or sensitive information that we want to keep safe. Hackers are well aware of this characteristic, which they may simply exploit. Mobile device security measures may be used to restrict device access to a network, which is an important step in ensuring network traffic remains private. It does not leak out via susceptible mobile connections.
  • Network segmentation – When it comes to implementing rules, dividing and classifying network traffic based on certain categories simplifies the task for security support workers. Segmented networks also make it easy to issue or reject authorization credentials to workers, ensuring that no one has access to information that they should not. Segmentation also aids in the isolation of possibly compromised devices or intrusions.
  • Security information and event management – These security systems (also known as SIEMs) integrate host-based and network-based intrusion detection systems, combining real-time network traffic monitoring with historical data log file scanning to provide managers with a complete picture of all network activities. SIEMs are comparable to intrusion prevention systems (IPS), which analyze network traffic for suspicious activity, policy violations, unauthorized access, and other signals of potentially hostile conduct to thwart incursion attempts actively. An IPS may also track security incidents and send alerts to the required participants to keep network managers aware.
  • Web security – There are a few uses for web security software. First, it restricts employee internet access to prevent them from visiting sites that may contain malware. It also protects a customer’s online gateway by blocking other web-based attacks.