The cost of designing your network infrastructure with imperfections has been steep over the last few years. Without complete network visibility – stemming from specific design flaws – most organizations are failing to competently secure their networks.
These weaknesses have led to a systemic problem regarding security breaches and data loss. Despite the already eye-opening costs of network security issues, in 2015, those cost are growing to unprecedented levels.
Security threats have become more and more frequent. In fact, detected security breaches increased by 66% from 2013 to 2014. That staggering number has been the crux of impending change in the landscape of network security and the consequences of flawed network infrastructure design.
As a network engineer, your costs are no longer strictly financial.
Legislation Increasing the Cost of Network Security Issues
As the person in charge of an organization’s network security, you face an increasingly challenging landscape, but also more costly ones.
While the events of the past few years were reason enough to rethink your network infrastructure design, 2015 is the year in which the United States is going to scream for change.
To date, 47 states have enacted legislation that further raises the cost of network security issues, and even a single security breach. If attackers capture personally identifiable information, you’ll soon be required to notify each individual affected by your lapse in network security.
The accountability of a data breach also falls directly on network engineers. All 50 states are likely to have legislation in place by the end of the year.
In addition to these pending network security compliance laws, many federal agencies are going to have the ability to levy fines for the loss of personal, health and other information. These agencies include the FCC, HHS and FTC.
So, what do all of these coming changes mean?
It means you must address the greatest and most prevalent flaw in network infrastructure design: the use of SPAN ports.
You Can’t Gain 100% Network Visibility with SPAN
The SPAN port is the root cause of network visibility issues, and thus, the cause of most network security issues.
You simply can’t rely on SPAN to give you complete insight into the activity in and outside of your network. What then is the key to sound network infrastructure design? What must you rely on? A network TAP.
TAPs provide a complete picture of your network activity. They give you immediate and complete visibility into your network. Also, unlike the SPAN port, the network TAP is unable to be physically hacked. It has no IP address. A TAP provides a network security perimeter that detects security threats not only from the outside, but also from inside your network.
Despite the benefits of network TAPs, many choose SPAN ports for their cost (more on that in our next blog). But, what few consider is the financial toll of a security breach. Consider this: The average cost of a network TAP is less than 1% of the average cost of a security breach.
If you fear asking for a slight bump in your budget to pay for TAPs, you’re thinking shortsightedly. You’re not choosing between network TAPs and SPAN – you’re choosing between a conversation about budget and the reason your network was hacked and data lost.
To learn why using a TAP is your only viable way to get full and real time network access, download the free whitepaper on TAP vs. SPAN.
