What Is Network Security?
Network security involves creating a strategy to secure an organization’s data and resources across the corporate network. It helps protect the organization against various potential threats and unauthorized access. Organizations of all sizes, infrastructure, and industries use network security solutions to protect themselves against the constantly-changing cyber threat landscape.
Network security strategies incorporate various technologies, processes, and devices. It requires designing rules and configurations to protect networks and data. Organizations maintain their computers’ integrity, accessibility, and confidentiality using a combination of network security and hardware and software technologies.
Here are commonly used network security tools:
- Network access control (NAC)-controls access to a corporate network according to predefined organizational policies. Organizations use NAC to monitor all devices attempting to access a corporate network.
- Firewall-acts as a barrier between external and internal networks. It tracks all network traffic flowing into and out of a private network. A firewall monitors and restricts traffic using a set of predefined parameters.
- Virtual private network (VPN)-creates a secure, encrypted connection between a protected network and a device accessing resources on the network. This encrypted connection ensures the data transferred remains safe and secure.
- Intrusion prevention system (IPS)-this network security system is designed to continuously monitor a network to identify and block potential threats. Once an IPS system detects a possible malicious threat in the network, it notifies an admin and takes preventive measures.
- Zero trust security-this technology requires all devices and individuals inside and outside the protected network to authorize their accounts when accessing the network.
Application security is another aspect of network security typically implemented by software developers. It involves identifying, fixing, and preventing security vulnerabilities and weaknesses during the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC). Application security requires using hardware, software, and processes to mitigate vulnerabilities.
What Is Endpoint Security?
Endpoint security enables organizations to secure endpoints or entry points of end-user devices like desktops, mobile devices, and laptops. It has evolved from traditional antivirus to provide comprehensive protection against evolving zero-day threats and sophisticated malware.
Endpoint security solutions protect endpoints on a corporate network or in the cloud from various cybersecurity threats. This technology helps prevent threats and malicious campaigns from exploiting endpoints for nefarious purposes and cyber attacks.
Organizations use endpoint security as the frontline of a broader cybersecurity program. It enables them to strengthen their defenses against threats like organized crime, hacktivists, nation-states, and accidental and malicious insider threats.
The importance of endpoint security
Today’s endpoint protection solutions can quickly identify, analyze, block, and contain cyber attacks in progress. Endpoint tools achieve this by working with various security technologies to provide human operators with visibility into advanced threats, significantly speeding up detection and remediation response times.
Endpoint security requires endpoint devices to meet certain security standards before allowing network access. This practice enables organizations to control the growing number of access points and block threats and access attempts before entry.
Types of endpoint security tools
Like many cybersecurity tools, the endpoint security stack is constantly evolving to ensure organizations gain access to up-to-date tools that can phase the ever-evolving security landscape. Here are some of the most common endpoint security products:
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR)-these tools continuously monitor and gather information from endpoints, automatically analyzing and responding to threats according to predefined rules.
- Endpoint protection platform (EPP)-this solution consists of a suite of endpoint security tools, such as data encryption, data loss prevention (DLP), and antivirus that work together on endpoint devices to identify and block security threats like file-based malware.
- Managed detection and response (MDR)-this service utilizes technology and human expertise to perform threat monitoring, hunting, and response. MDR vendors can rapidly detect and minimize the impact of cyber threats on behalf of an organization. It eliminates the need to hire additional in-house staff.
- Extended detection and response (XDR)-helps simplify enterprise network security management by integrating security visibility across the organization’s entire infrastructure, including cloud infrastructure, endpoints, and mobile devices.
Network Security vs. Endpoint Security
Architecture
Network security solutions protect against threats across a corporate network, ideally identifying and blocking threats before they reach connected endpoints. Network security products cast a wide net covering many assets. Examples include network firewalls and secure web gateways (SWG) to monitor and filter traffic.
Endpoint security solutions work directly on endpoint devices (e.g., desktops, IoT devices, servers) and are often the last line of defense. They are more focused solutions, protecting individual assets. Examples include firewall software to filter traffic on specific devices, antivirus to scan local files and applications, and EDR tools to detect and respond to threats.
Security Integration
Modern network security solutions no longer work in silos, enabling data sharing between tools. Integrated tools can receive threat intelligence from global feeds to automatically detect and block emerging attacks. These tools can also share information with local endpoint security tools.
Endpoint solutions can collect and analyze data, forward it to the network security platform, and receive data from global feeds. The security controls use this information to implement security policies against detected threats.
Sometimes, central management tools can collect and distribute data among endpoint and network security tools. Examples include security orchestration, SIEM, and automated response tools.
Use Cases for Network and Endpoint Security Tools
Network and endpoint security solutions are often most effective when deployed together, although each tool is better suited to specific use cases. Endpoint security solutions are best suited for remote work scenarios because they are portable, directly installed on devices. However, they are often operating system-specific.
Network security solutions are useful for protecting diverse environments and devices
(especially IoT), usually with wider support. These tools also help secure public cloud environments-major cloud vendors offer network security solutions that integrate with other infrastructure.
Conclusion
Network security and endpoint security are two critical aspects of any cybersecurity program. They are also tightly related, because networks cannot be secured without locking down the sensitive endpoints within them. I hope this brief review will help you understand the value of both types of security solutions, and learn to combine them effectively within your data center
