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Tapping to the Music—Looking Back at the 1990s

February 16, 2016

In our new infographic, The Evolution of Network Visibility, we took a trip down melody lane to show readers the events and innovations that sparked the rise of network visibility.

 Relax and rewind to some 1990s alternative rock and to the days when the cyber threat landscape emerged, beginning to shape the network visibility narrative.

The Internet as We Know It Emerged in the 1990s

By 1995, interconnected service providers were routing Internet traffic and the technology we now can’t live without was born. But even as companies like Amazon and Google emerged, hackers grew bolder and more threatening. In 1998, a group of hackers named L0pht was questioned by Congress and they testified that they could shut down the Internet in just 30 minutes—a horrific proposal.

As Pearl Jam contemplated their own coming Undone, it was clear that the Internet needed a better means of network security and visibility to avoid being pushed into everyone’s Rearviewmirror.

The Evolution of Network Visibility

Firewalls and the New Focus on Network Connectivity

The 1990s was the era of the early firewall. Protecting networks at the edge made the most sense. If you could build an impenetrable castle and put a secure gate at the point of entry, you could do business in relative safety. Using SPAN ports for connectivity, visibility into the network at this phase helped fight cyber threats by protecting LANS.

While SPAN ports can provide network visibility, troubleshooting and maintenance meant the network had to come down because appliances were placed in the live wire. Also, any spike in traffic causes SPAN ports to drop packets and render firewalls useless. SPAN ports weren’t going to cut it for evolving visibility needs. 

It didn’t seem like anything would be able to heal the Scar Tissue damaged by emerging cyber criminals, but hackers “couldn’t stop” the rise of network bypass TAPs as the leading option for network visibility and security appliance connectivity

The Evolution of Network Visibility Infographic—Tapping to the Music

In our Evolution of Network Visibility infographic, we cover the chain of events that have led us to the current state of network visibility. Just as the favorite rock bands of the decades have emerged and evolved, so too have network TAPs and security appliances.

Rock on and discover how each decade came to grips with the growing need for network visibility.

Tweet and tell us where your visibility story began #NetworkFlashback.

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Heartbeats Packets Inside the Bypass TAP

If the inline security tool goes off-line, the TAP will bypass the tool and automatically keep the link flowing. The Bypass TAP does this by sending heartbeat packets to the inline security tool. As long as the inline security tool is on-line, the heartbeat packets will be returned to the TAP, and the link traffic will continue to flow through the inline security tool.

If the heartbeat packets are not returned to the TAP (indicating that the inline security tool has gone off-line), the TAP will automatically 'bypass' the inline security tool and keep the link traffic flowing. The TAP also removes the heartbeat packets before sending the network traffic back onto the critical link.

While the TAP is in bypass mode, it continues to send heartbeat packets out to the inline security tool so that once the tool is back on-line, it will begin returning the heartbeat packets back to the TAP indicating that the tool is ready to go back to work. The TAP will then direct the network traffic back through the inline security tool along with the heartbeat packets placing the tool back inline.

Some of you may have noticed a flaw in the logic behind this solution!  You say, “What if the TAP should fail because it is also in-line? Then the link will also fail!” The TAP would now be considered a point of failure. That is a good catch – but in our blog on Bypass vs. Failsafe, I explained that if a TAP were to fail or lose power, it must provide failsafe protection to the link it is attached to. So our network TAP will go into Failsafe mode keeping the link flowing.

Glossary

  1. Single point of failure: a risk to an IT network if one part of the system brings down a larger part of the entire system.

  2. Heartbeat packet: a soft detection technology that monitors the health of inline appliances. Read the heartbeat packet blog here.

  3. Critical link: the connection between two or more network devices or appliances that if the connection fails then the network is disrupted.

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