You’ve probably heard all the popular security advice for your business. Firewall? Check. Anti-virus? Check. Password policies? Check. And so on. But here’s another tool in the security arsenal to consider: network security monitoring.
What is network security monitoring?
Network security monitoring is a service that monitors your network (traffic and devices) for security threats, vulnerabilities, and suspicious behavior. It is an automated process that collects and analyzes many indicators of potential threats in real time. It alerts you to these threats so you and/or an emergency response team can take action to resolve them.
As it is automated and continuous, network security monitoring is a key tool for quickly detecting and responding to threats. And quick response time is crucial to dealing with security threats.
What are the benefits and uses?
The demand for this sort of security monitoring is only increasing as companies need protection against ransomware, zero-day threats, and other malicious attacks. It’s also important for compliance reasons – allowing businesses to detect data breaches and gain information and reports about security threats.
In the normal course of business, there can be security threats around the clock you have to deal with. This type of monitoring detects those threats and lets you know they exist so you can protect yourself and mitigate problems.
Here are some uses and benefits:
- Detect threats and breaches that would otherwise not have been detected
- Can help detect zero-day (new, previously unknown) threats
- Hunt down suspicious behavior
- Get a big picture view of your business’s security events
- Streamline compliance reporting
- Find solutions to address detected security threats
- Provides 24/7 skilled emergency response team
What does network security monitoring look like in action?
Here’s just one example of network security monitoring in action as part of a robust security strategy:
Recently an OXEN client with network security monitoring had a security alarm triggered for an attempted ransomware infection. It turned out that an email account of another company in the area was compromised and sending out malicious Word documents.
This was a brand new variant of malware, only a few hours old, and effectively a zero-day attack. Not only did the client’s OXEN network monitoring service detect it immediately, but the firewall anti-virus also stopped it from ever entering the network.
Without their security monitoring and firewall tools, this business might have been infected and they wouldn’t have known the threat was there or where it came from.
Is it worth it?
No single tool should be the entirety of your cybersecurity plan. Security threats come from so many vectors that one tool can’t be looking in every direction and one person can’t stay on top of it all. Network security monitoring is a service that gives you deep, constant vigilance on your network traffic – what’s coming in and what’s going out – and what’s on your staff’s networked devices. Paired with other security tools and expert consultation, security monitoring gives a big boost to your defense.
And remember: security isn’t an 8 to 5 business. Network security monitoring can give you the 24/7 watchfulness and an expert response team that you need.
So, is it worth it to implement network security monitoring? Even for a small business, yes. You get alerts, assistance with incident response, reporting, and regulatory compliance. Altogether, it can reduce your exposure to security breaches, which can have severe legal, financial, and reputational penalties. Improve your security practice and knowledge with this security service!
Want to know more about network security monitoring and what features are available? OXEN Technology has Network Security Monitor, powered by NetWatcher.
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