If your company is not prioritizing network security, you may want to focus on these initiatives.
If you fail to prioritize network security, your organization could be at risk of a cyberattack without you or your team even knowing.
It is important to secure your network before it’s breached and your company is forced to pay significant amounts of money to resolve the cyberattack.
Coeo has helped hundreds of customers with their network security and knows how important it is to secure your network.
We want to give you the information you need to secure your network and avoid being a victim of a cyberattack.
By the end of this article, you will know, what network security is as well as the five areas your company should focus on to ensure a safe and secure network.
What is network security?
Network security is the protection of the underlying network infrastructure. It protects the network from unauthorized access, misuse, and theft.
Cyberattacks come in many forms and from various sources to penetrate your network.
To combat the ways that networks can be attacked, network security can be made up of applications, configurations, and tools.
Not only do different types of network security tools, services, and solutions help protect your data and network from cyberattacks but also gives access to authorized users so they can perform their work safely and efficiently.
Cyberattacks are at an all-time high and malicious actors are becoming more sophisticated every day.
On average a data breach takes 287 days to identify and the cost of a data breach is increasing by over 10% each year.
Malicious actors are constantly evolving the techniques they use to attack networks making it extremely difficult to prevent intrusions.
The key to building a secure network is to prevent as many intrusions as possible while detecting breaches that occur as quickly as possible.
To avoid the constant stress of cyberattacks, your company should focus on five main network security initiatives to save money and avoid the consequences of a cyberattack such as data loss and a downed network.
5 network security initiatives
There are five network security initiatives to focus on that will help your company avoid being a victim of a cyberattack.
These initiatives include zero-day threat detection, remote workforce security, zero-trust network access, voice network security, and network security tests.
1. Zero-day threat detection
Zero-day threat detection solutions combine signature-based antivirus software with an AI solution that will analyze traffic and determine if it is suspicious.
Signature-based antivirus is software that scans a computer or other device for known malware.
If the traffic is deemed to be suspicious but not a known threat the solution will block the traffic and either further investigate it to see if it is malicious or send a notification which will provide you with the ability to allow the traffic to continue.
These solutions have become more common for endpoint security but are equally valuable to deploy at your network’s edge.
In many cases, if the threat can access your network it will stay in an area where it won’t flag an endpoint security solution. This way, the threat can gather data undetected which could lead to a more severe breach.
2. Remote workforce security
Today’s work environment is more unique than it has ever been. If your company has a remote work environment or hybrid remote environment, it is important to secure your remote workers.
Your company may have great network security in the office but as soon as your employees leave the office and take their laptops with them, their devices can be vulnerable to malicious actors looking for a network to attack.
Securing your remote workforce should at a minimum include a quality endpoint security solution, a VPN connection to access company data, and, ideally a cloud-based next-generation firewall solution.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a solution that can help secure your remote workers. In addition, there are several SASE solutions that combine these services into a single solution.
3. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is a network design rather than a single product. The core of ZTNA is to trust nothing and verify everything.
Historically, organizations have created trusted networks to allow unlimited access to those networks. A common example of this is creating a VPN and assuming that any traffic that goes over that VPN is trusted.
The flaw with this topology is that if one end of that network becomes exposed, what had been a trusted network is now compromised.
This newly compromised network can now extend itself into other areas of your network which can lead to a much larger breach.
This is why implementing two-factor authentication for all resources is so important. It ensures that you are decreasing the potential risks while limiting the reach of a breach should it occur.
4. Voice network security
Voice networks are often overlooked when implementing a security design but can lead to an equally costly breach, making voice network security extremely important.
Toll fraud is a type of voice network attack that often gets overlooked. It is when a cybercriminal gains access to your phone system to make artificially generated calls to expensive rate numbers.
Toll fraud has become rampant and can cost organizations tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of days.
Organizations spent over $9 billion in 2021 due to toll fraud losses. To avoid this costly consequence, making sure your voice network is secure is a must.
A Session Border Controller (SBC) is a voice network appliance that provides voice security and ensures a higher level of voice quality.
An SBC can be deployed as software or hardware with an on-premise, cloud, or hybrid voice solution.
SBCs allow you to remotely monitor your voice traffic, encrypt your voice traffic over the public internet, connect to multiple service providers for high uptime and provide redundancy.
5. Network security tests
Network security testing should be performed regularly to ensure that your network is secure and not vulnerable to any type of cyberattack or malicious actor.
Network security testing can include vulnerability scanning, network threat detection, and penetration testing.
This testing will not only ensure that you are identifying breaches earlier but can help to determine where your network vulnerabilities exist so that you can address them before a breach occurs.
This can be done as often as you would like but ideally should be done quarterly to ensure that you are limiting the amount of time a potential breach exists in your network.
Next steps to securing your network
Now you know what network security is and the five network security initiatives you can use to protect your network. This will help you secure your network and avoid being a victim of a cyberattack.
Nobody wants to be a victim of a cyberattack and have confidential data leaked. These security initiatives will help you avoid paying enormous amounts of money to repair a cyberattack and keep your data secure.
Coeo knows how important network security is. We want to make sure you have all of the information you need to secure your network properly so your network is not vulnerable to malicious actors and cyberattacks.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about network security or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment. 
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