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It’s no secret cybersecurity is a major concern for enterprises today. Falling victim to a network vulnerability can be a devastating blow for organizations in all sectors and industries. Here are some essential security features for network monitoring solutions.
High Visibility on All Levels
When evaluating network monitoring solutions, the idea of, well, monitoring needs to be one of the prime considerations. What does this mean, exactly? Think about what you’re trying to accomplish with network monitoring solutions. For most enterprises, this means granting key stakeholders the ability to really see what’s going on across enterprise networks. This should be both done on the broad and granular levels. Without intuitive and effective visibility tools, the purpose of network monitoring is sort of self-defeating.
Device Discovery
More devices are connecting to networks than ever before. Some estimates say there will be three times as many devices connected to networks by 2023 as there will be humans on Earth. This is a far cry from the non-digital world of the past. Due to this, automatic device discovery is one of the most important functions for network security solutions. In today’s world, there are simply too many devices interacting with enterprise networks for them to be managed manually. Fortunately, automated device discovery is a major feature touted by many network security solutions.
Scalability
There are all kinds of products and services that purport to do one thing, but tend to fall short. This isn’t something that can be tolerated when it comes to keeping your enterprise networks secure from threats. Therefore, scalable network monitoring security tools are a must for any organization that takes itself seriously.
It should be clear why scalability is important to this equation. Without it, it will be incredibly difficult for enterprises to adapt to changing network traffic demands. Especially considering the ever-growing number of network devices, as well as increasing data load requirements, ignoring scalability now can be a huge thorn in your side later. If your organization is familiar with the growing pains associated with operating on-premise in an increasingly cloud-based world, it should be obvious why it’s important to plan ahead for scalability.
Machine Learning-Driven Capabilities
There are all kinds of different technologies driving innovation in network security today. When it comes to the strongest network monitoring security platforms, however, machine learning is often an essential element.
There are a few reasons why machine learning is such a valuable asset for network security. At its core, machine learning facilitates continual improvement based on dynamically synthesizing data. This allows for network monitoring security platforms to get better and better at identifying and stopping threats.
Automated Response Functionalities
You’re not going to be able to have someone actively monitoring all aspects of your networks all the time. If you’re an enterprise large enough to afford an IT department, you’re probably going to have far too much for your team to manage on its own. There are a couple ways to cope with this.
First, you’ll want to have automated response functionalities present in your network monitoring tools. This means alerts can be sent out and triage can begin even if no employees have taken any action. Threats don’t sleep, so neither can your network security. Automation can play a huge role in averting potential disasters.
Furthermore, it’s worth considering having an external network security solution provider working alongside your enterprise to provide additional protection. Having constant monitoring from cybersecurity professionals combined with automated response actions can greatly improve the effectiveness of network security solutions.
There’s a lot to consider when developing an approach to protect enterprise networks. These are some of the top things to look for when trying to find the right network monitoring security tools.
