What Computer Network Security Entails

 

 

Computer network security is the practice of entirely preventing malicious intrusion into computer networks. The practice typically complements endpoint security, which emphasizes on individual devices. Through it, you can focus on how devices interact and identify the connective tissue between them.

 

Methods Involved

Methods involved in computer network security usually are in the form of physical and software preventative measures. They help protect the underlying networking infrastructure from misuse, unauthorized access, modification, malfunction, improper disclosure, and destruction.  You can count on them to create a secure platform for computers, programs, and users to perform their permitted critical functions. They are as follows:

 

Firewalling

Firewalls give rules for permitting or denying traffic on your network and the internet. They help establish a barrier between a trusted zone and the outside world. You need to include them in your in-depth network defense strategy for the best outcomes.

 

Application Security and Access Control

Attackers mainly target unsecured applications to gain access to your network. You should employ software, hardware and security processes to lock the malicious threats. You also need to block unauthorized devices and users from infiltrating your network. Always ensure that the permitted users and devices only work with the limited an authorize set of resources.

 

Rooting Out Malware

Viruses, Trojans, and worms usually attempt to spread across a network. They can also remain undetected in computer systems for days or weeks. Consider using anti-malware programs to prevent potential infections and to eliminate malware trying to infiltrate your network.

 

Web and Email Security

Controlling your internal staff’s web use allows you to block web-based threats coming from web browsers. Such threats are likely to infect your network. Note that phishing is one of the most common ways hackers use to access a network. With the right email security tools, you can block both outbound messages and incoming attacks from reaching your computer network.

 

Intrusion Detection and Prevention

Intrusion detection and prevention systems scan a network’s traffic to identify and block potential threats. They also correlate network activity signatures with databases of recognized attack techniques. With software-defined segmentation, you can classify network traffic into different categories and easily enforce security policies.

 

Data Loss Prevention

You may find it difficult to ensure that your employees don’t inadvertently or deliberately send sensitive data outside the network. You can achieve this task using data loss prevention tools. Security information and event management tools also help you pull together information from different network tools to get the data needed for identifying and responding to threats.

 

Summing Up

Computer network security goes beyond identifying tools that can help secure your network from unauthorized access. For the tools to work, you need to configure your networks and systems as correctly as possible. You should also have mechanisms in place for spotting changes in the configuration.

 

To succeed in securing your computer network, you should have tools for notifying you when network traffic poses risks to your enterprise. Once you identify the potential problems, consider responding to them immediately.  Such a strategy will enable you to be productive and prevent future network threats.