Since when did greater network capacity mean greater risk of data breaches?
The truth? This has always been the case. But, the transformation of how we operate online and the rapid growth from 10G to 40G to 100G have magnified the problem.
In 2015, users are browsing the Web and watching videos far more than they used to. They’re also using a seemingly countless number of new applications. These activities eat into your bandwidth, necessitating the move to bigger, faster networks.
With greater network utilization and the transmission of more data, you’re more susceptible to network and data breaches.
Data capture is fundamental to thwarting breaches and other network security issues. You must have complete visibility into the critical, more vulnerable areas of your network. With so much traffic passing through different areas of your network, data capturing tools are often overwhelmed, dropping packets of critical information. If your forensic and analysis tools are missing critical data, how can you expect them to do their jobs completely and give you the insight you need?
A security device’s hardware and software may not be able to keep up with your network speed. For example, based on how its software is written, a 10G analyzer can only support 2G of traffic.
You must be capable of analyzing and inspecting your traffic to pinpoint network security issues. But, the more data you have, the harder it is to collect it all.
A big data network that transmits scores of packets doesn’t have to remain vulnerable to data breaches.
Many organizations rely on switches and their SPAN ports to copy network traffic, but SPAN is an incredible weakness for network security. Its inability to handle much data is a huge cause for packets being dropped.
In fact, Cisco recommends that its customers avoid using its switches for data collection on 10/40/100G networks.
On the other hand, if you’ve placed network TAPs at different areas of your network, you guarantee complete data capture and the ability to see attempted data breaches.
Network TAPs ensure that your security devices get the data they need to perform. For example, tapping inside of your security perimiter gives you complete visibility into any data leakage, empowering you to pinpoint the problem.
Let’s face it: Cost is a big component of network conversations. Companies buy 40G networks because they’ve become so cheap. A consequence of the transition, however, is your slower (and expensive) tools’ inability to handle the influx of data.
Many consultants recommend purchasing an additional security analyzer and balancing traffic between the two tools to guarantee security. But, a 10G analyzer will cost you $100,000.
Rather than buying a second analyzer, leverage load balancers – network TAPs that are “session aware” and that slice and dice data to allow only pertinent data through to a single analyzer.
The reality is that security tools will always lag behind network speeds and data capacity. Bigger data networks are introduced to the market, and then updated devices are developed.
With 400G networks already in discussion, it’s imperative that you have a way to not only protect your network from data breaches, but also protect your significant investment in security tools.
Learn more about ensuring the transmission of critical data to your security tools and protecting your network.
