Prerequisites
As a result of the digitalization of business and the rapid increase in the volume and value of traffic, information security has become a decisive factor in the success of almost any company. The IT infrastructure of even small organizations is continually becoming more complex. To ensure cybersecurity, businesses are building up an arsenal of advanced software and hardware protection and monitoring tools. However, the effectiveness of these systems is only possible by ensuring full visibility of the network traffic of the entire infrastructure.
Visualization of the entire data flow allows you to provide the necessary information about monitored traffic to security and monitoring applications and eliminate "blind spots" in the network, which are a potential source of cyber attacks and other problems with the availability and quality of services. In addition, traffic visualization can improve performance and resource utilization of security and monitoring systems, protect investments in existing tools, and reduce the cost of additional licenses, usually based on the volume of traffic passing through.
Problems of efficient transmission of network traffic to analysis tools
The challenge for cyber security professionals and network administrators is to provide data to each of the many network security devices and other analysis and monitoring tools. The efficiency and optimal use of these systems is determined by the efficiency of traffic transmission to them, as well as the integrity of the transmitted data. In practice, with the traditional connection of cybersecurity and monitoring systems to the network infrastructure, there are problems of lack of ports, data overload, limited visibility and related issues. Among others, experts note the following tasks:
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Network packet brokers are the backbone of traffic visualization solutions. These specialized devices are used to connect and optimize the use of security and monitoring systems. Network packet brokers, respectively, are installed at the junction of telecommunication networks and cybersecurity and monitoring systems. They ensure that network traffic is efficiently routed to all tools for complete visibility into the data of the entire infrastructure, while preventing congestion of switching devices and analysis tools as well as packet loss.
The benefits of visualizing network traffic when building information security and monitoring systems were briefly formulated by the Israeli manufacturer of network packet brokers CGS Tower Networks - "transferring to each network security and monitoring tool only the necessary data, in the appropriate volume and in the correct format":
Delivery of only the necessary data to each analysis tool : processing all network traffic and providing data to all analysis tools with the implementation of preliminary preparation, filtering and traffic classification to facilitate analysis;
Delivery of data in the right amount: offloading network switches, eliminating redundancy in security and monitoring, filtering traffic and adjusting for speed, combating peak loads and traffic bursts;
Delivery of data in the correct format : modification of traffic for its transmission to security and monitoring systems in a form suitable for analysis.
Improved network and application security and performance justify investment in traffic visualization solutions
The limiting factors for the implementation of visualization solutions can be the high cost of systems, the complexity of project implementation, as well as the large required space inside the racks for installing additional equipment, which is not always available. As a result, many companies only partially implement the solution or postpone the project indefinitely, putting the organization at risk.
Effective and reliable alternatives to popular hardware brands (such as Gigamon and IXIA) are now on the market, enabling not only large, but also small and medium-sized organizations to successfully implement projects to deploy a visualization layer on their networks. So, in order to optimize the implementation process and reduce the required budget, companies choose solutions from the manufacturer CGS Tower Networks. Among the advantages of CGS Tower Networks systems are advanced functionality with a number of unique features, high-quality components, the most advanced chipsets, modern and powerful hardware white box platforms that provide high performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness of solutions.
The benefits of a well-designed and efficient security and monitoring infrastructure using network packet brokers in this case outweigh the additional costs of network visualization solutions. As a result, the total cost of ownership for the entire infrastructure is lower.
An approach to network visualization using the example of CGS Tower Networks solutions
CGS Tower Networks offers a comprehensive solution for visualizing network traffic when building cybersecurity and monitoring systems:
Collecting all traffic from the network infrastructure using passive optical TAP taps;
Aggregation, mirroring and balancing of traffic for distribution between analysis tools and prevention of data overload; Network visualization
optimization - advanced filtering functionality at L2-L7 levels, deep packet analysis, classification, modification, deduplication, session tracking, collection of statistics on passing traffic and other mechanisms to preserve data integrity, improve performance and efficiency of network security and monitoring systems.
Benefits of CGS Tower Networks visualization solutions:
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- TAP
Modern companies use many different traffic processing and analysis systems to provide network security and monitoring. Network packet brokers are a class of devices that are responsible for the transparency of the infrastructure for security and monitoring subsystems, the completeness, accuracy and correctness of traffic redirection to various analysis tools, as well as optimizing their use. Ultimately, network packet brokers contribute to the effectiveness of the entire information security and monitoring system of an organization.
When choosing a visualization solution provider, the following points are important:
- Fixed and modular network packet brokers to optimize the visualization of all sections of the network
- Use of high quality components for increased solution reliability
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