Network devices: How to implement security configuration parameters on network devices

The network devices hold some great importance for someone who wants to get connected to the internet since they are his ticket for the connection. But the security of those network devices is very important since one might be at some potential risk of data theft and the data alteration which can be dear to someone. The network devices can be secured in many ways. After securing one can ensure some good performance and can hence improve the productivity of his company. Following are the things which can help implementing network devices' securities;

Firewalls

Firewalls are the very important part of the system. The main thing is that they can actually keep the threats away and creates a wall between the computer and the attacks. One should make sure that the firewall is enabled and some of the practices are applied before going to any other option of the security. First thing I about the firewall rule changes. One should document all the firewall changes. Recording these changes is not as simple as they are not about the documenting in the electronic or the written form. It should be matching some security policy changes. The documentation of the security policy and the rule change both are the elements of the change controlling process or some workflow. The change must be applied and should be tested too for confirming that the traffic is blocked or allowed. Next thing is that the internet should be accessed with the minimum access rights. The configuration of the firewall with some minimum inbound controls can follow the same logic as it does in the outbound. One should know that if once it has been receded, then the implemented rule will change only to allow the traffic of the services which are allowed by one. Third thing is about verification of the change in firewall against the policies and the changed requests. The security policy must be able to reflect some matters of the compliance. One's changed controlled process should be indicating that one doesn't alter some rule of firewall which would be causing the security enforcement. The last one is the removal of the rules which are not used and they should be removing when the services are being deprecated. When someone changes the firewall then the regularity service might ask one to change service too.

Routers

Routers security is very vital when someone is using the internet. The reason being is that it is the single point which enables one to enjoy the privileges of the internet and hence he can get stressed out easily if that opening point becomes the attacking point of any virus. The risk of the viruses can be minimized if someone takes some simple 6 steps and plays some important role in removing them out. The first one is that one should not try to enable the remote management on the internet. The webservers which are embedded are the main sources of several flaws. The security policy should be moderated and the routers should be used to get connected to some corporate VPN while having the remote service disabled. The IP ranges which one is using throughout the connection should not be the default one. It is some simple but very effective method to decrease the likelihood of the successful attacks for viruses. Also, one should make sure that after one is done with the configuration, he logs out of it and then closed the browse. It may happen that when someone is logged in there, someone else who is connected can also open the website and can get access to that. Another most important thing is that the WPS should be turned off since it isn't secured and the encryption should be turned on which should be WPA-2. The password which is set by the sure is of great importance since it is obvious that one won't be able to access the network if the password is there. Also, one shouldn't turn off the SSID broadcast and should not be disabling the plug and play since they can be the major invitation for the hackers and the problems.

Switches

The switches can be the foundation for one's network. They help connecting the computers, printers, servers and some other devices too. There are the three types of the switches which are managed, unmanaged and the smart ones. The smart and the managed switches are the ones which include some security features but the managed switches provide one some great controls over the traffic of network with some advanced features and the security. A switch should be managed and there should be some security gestures which should be present there. There is supposed to be some security which should be embedded for the encryption and the network communication. The management data which is being flowed over it should be protected as well. The ACLS, which is the access control lists, should be sued for the restricted areas and they should be saved from some unauthorized users and there should be some guarding against the network attacks. Also, the VLANS should be used which should be virtual and should separate the work groups. Also, creating some guest group for the visitors can be helped since it can give some limited access to the internet and the network.

Load Balancers

One must understand the importance of the load balancer since it is used for the distribution of the networks and it helps reversing the policies, or the application traffic. They are also used for the increment in the capacity and the increment in reliability of applications. The overall performance is boosted up and the burden which is bear by the server is also reduced and is managed properly. Also, this is done to get some network sessions, the maintenance of application and the application specific tasks.

Proxies

Proxy is basically the very important thing and it is something which we hear many times. In some simple words, I help translating one and then conveying that message to the other person. The proxy server is the type of server which is sued as the intermediately for the sake of requesting the clients to the other clients. When one gets connected to it, then he sends some service. These services can be the files, data, webpage, connection etc. the proxy server actually evaluates that requests and then sends it back by simplifying it and making it easier to understand for the other person. The same act is then repeated by the other person as well. Hence securities can help one a lot to secure the data and to make sure that the data has been travelled safe and no one has interrupted in-between.

Web security gateways

When someone uses the internet, he becomes prone to some attacks which are done to the connection when someone is connected. There are many software's too which are designed for such purpose and they help one put up some good forensic report and the analysis of the gateways. One can get upgraded to them when desired to improve the advanced features and the capabilities of the computer.

VPN concentrators

The VPN connectors are the remotely Accessed VPNs and they are used for this purpose. Normally, the remote access VPNS would allow the one to use some encryption tunnel to stay secured to get the access to the network or some other corporate via the internet. There are some various VPN connectors which have some various models and they are specifically designed for some various users and the throughputs. They can also be sued for some site to site VPNs and there might be some PIX router which can be suite better to it. There is some other type of the VPN too which is the wires traffic or the encrypted WLAN. They are designed for some really special users like where there is some concern that the consequences would get the username and the password become held up.

NIDS and NIPS

The NIDS and the NIPS both are the parts of the IDS. IDS stand for the intrusion detection system. It is specially designed so that all the network activity or any of the suspicious activities can be monitored and there would be some patterns through which the system or the network attack can be determines. It is basically some passive system since it helps the giving one warning about the attacks.

Behaviour based: The NIDS follows he process which is centred on the gathering of the data and identification of these behaviours which happen there. Also, they are used as some added abilities which can block some unwanted activities. The NIDS are used for the examination of the patterns like he requests or the numbers which are unusual and are being generated from some service or the server, which can be the FTP server, for example.

Signature based: The NIDS which is signature based, would be responsible for monitoring the packets which are on network and would help them getting compared against some signature data based or the attributes which arise from some known threats. This is kind of same the way many of the antiviruses detect the malware. The issue which is faced there is there is some lag which can be there and the signature is there which can be used for the detected of the threat which is applied. The NIDS signature is the pattern which is used for looking into the traffic. They can range from some simple ways. There can be the value of some header file too which can be from high complexity signatures to the others.

Anomaly based: The NIDS which is anomaly based would examine some activities which are on-going and then would detected for any attack which is observed.

Heuristic: This security monitoring basically uses some database which is initial and is of some known attacks. The signatures of these are changed dramatically. They are changed on the bases of the learnt behaviours of that network traffic.

Protocol analysers

One must know that this tool is used for the analysis of the signals and the capturing of the traffic on some communication channel. These channels can vary from the local computer's bus top the link of satellite, and hence it provides the mean of communication through the standard protocol. Every type of the protocol has got some different tool which can be used for the collection and the analysis of the data and signals.

Spam filter

Email filtering is what keeps one safe from some unknown email attacks. One may find that there are some emails which go to the spam folder. The reason of that is that those emails contain some irregular addresses and they are not recognised with the servers.

UTM security appliances

This is basically a gateway for the network security and is a defence solution which can be used for many organizations. This is the traditional firewall and it can be used for several ways and some of them are following;

URL filter: They are used when one wants to get the URLS cleaned and want to know which URL are safe and where one should be clicking.

Content inspection: This has to do with the content that a website has. This application can examine and scan the content and then can make it okay to use for the user.

Malware inspection Malware is dangerous virus so this program also helps one getting detected of the malware.

Web application firewall vs. network firewall

Firewall is used for the protection of the system against the network attacks and the web application program is some program which is used for the defence of the web application against the attacks.

Application aware devices

There are some smart devices which are aware of the applications which are being run and there are some applications which are run by them;

Firewalls: As it is known, the firewalls are used for the protection of the data against any threat which is faced by the computer.

IPS: it is some screen technology which can be used by one for the LCDs. One can find them in some high end monitors.

IDS: This system helps one know and get the warning messages if some attack is being done on the network.

Proxies: Proxies also run automatically and they run to simply translate the data over the internet and hence make the communication easier and secured.

So basically, there are many ways through which one can ensure that the network devices are secured. One can apply all of them or at least, should try to apply most of them to get some really secured network. Also, the knowledge of all these can help someone not only to make the data get transferred easier but also the detection and the actions against any attack which is done on the network or the computer.