Network Infrastructure Security: An Underserved Market
Don’t make network infrastructure the weak point in your organizations’ security strategy
Given the long and dirty laundry list of massive data breaches in 2018 alone—corporate giants including VTech, Under Armour, Panera Bread and SunTrust Banks all experienced large-scale hacking events—it is easy to understand why businesses spend a great deal of time and resources focused on endpoint encryption.
However, internal threats via network infrastructure vulnerability should not be overlooked. Your shareholders will not care whether the infiltration came from outside criminals due to internal factors in the case of an intrusion that results in a data compromise.
Your shareholders will likely ask a simple question: Did you do everything possible to secure the network infrastructure?
What Is Network Infrastructure?
Also known as physical layer 1, network infrastructure is made up of any interconnected devices on your business’s premises and within your network that are designed to transport any communications necessary for applications, data, services and multimedia.
A variety of types of devices, both hardware-based and software-based, are frequently present in any given network, including the following:
- Networking hardware, such as routers, switches, LAN cards, wireless routers and cables.
- Networking software or perimeter devices, such as firewalls, operating systems, network security applications, intrusion detection systems and network operations and management systems.
- Network services, such as DSL, satellite, wireless protocols, IP addressing and T-1 lines.
Over the years and given the massive influx of cyber intrusions, IT leaders sometimes may find themselves de-prioritizing these important considerations due to lack of time, budget and human resources.
That does not suggest CIOs and IT managers have shirked their duties; it is often simply a matter of getting the job done in a less strategic way than is ideal.
If network infrastructure has increasingly become a critical point of IT operational dependency for your business, you are far from alone. Most companies are working out the details now to solve this pressing issue.
Benefits of Enhancing Network Infrastructure Security
Outside of any pull on your resources, there is no downside to redirecting your focus to monitoring and protecting your network infrastructure.
In case you and your executive team need more convincing, here are three core benefits to enhancing your network infrastructure security:
- Securely Support BYOD: Employee-owned devices in the workplace have become the default. Whether employees and managers use their tablets and smartphones for work or they simply have them with them throughout the workday (and who doesn’t these days?) a high-impact physical layer 1 monitoring system can catch any issues in real-time.
- Improve Bandwidth: Solid management of your network bandwidth capacity saves your business money. Optic fiber monitoring can help you quickly identify flow characteristics on your network that might indicate issues, including how much bandwidth overall traffic is in use at any time and for what purpose, that you can quickly correct if necessary.
- Pick Out and Manage Improperly Used Assets: An asset is unnecessarily in use in one place may be critically needed in another. You may be spending money to compensate for that imbalance when with proper monitoring you can quickly identify it and redirect resources.
Additional benefits you are likely to experience with high-quality optic fiber monitoring include increased uptime and state-of-the-art network performance, improved time-to-market, enhanced small and large expansions and streamlined application performance.
Each of these benefits, plus many more, is a serious head turner for executive teams and shareholders.
Another attractive benefit is that your IT team can breathe a little easier with some additional situation awareness regarding looming issues and events that could reduce your ability to run an optimal network infrastructure.
Optic Fiber Monitoring to Protect Network Infrastructure
A network infrastructure cybersecurity solution, featuring a physical layer 1 security solution, provides defense-grade technologies to protect your network infrastructure without breaking the IT budget and exhausting your dedicated team.
- Continuous analysis of pathways and/or cables to detect the smallest events that may alert you to unauthorized access to routers, cables, switches or wireless routers without consuming any additional bandwidth.
- Remote monitoring and management of alarm devices from anywhere around the globe.
- Provides situational awareness and intelligence that indicates the accurate severity of an event, completely eliminating faulty nuisance alarms.
Don’t make network infrastructure the weak point in your organizations’ security strategy. Consider optic fiber monitoring to protect your critical network infrastructure.
