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In the quest for optimal security, IT business professionals would walk a thousand miles to ensure that they do not expose their companies to any risks. Among the most effective strategies in achieving high-security levels is business network segmentation. Simply put, network segmentation is a strategy where IT professionals isolate the different networks in their companies and reduce the amount of interaction between any two networks.
This way, the traffic in one network will almost never be accessed by any device that isn’t within the same network. While all IT professionals believe that network segmentation is the right choice for optimal business endpoint security, the surprising thing is that only a quarter of businesses actually segment their organization’s network. This situation leaves their companies with gaping loopholes security wise.
Here are four strong reasons why segmenting your networks should not be a debatable topic:
Network Segmentation Means Optimal Security
When unsegmented, it becomes easy for hackers to gain access to data that is within your organization’s network. On the other hand, segmenting your networks will mean that hackers will have to spend some more time trying to gain access to other isolated networks. As a result, having one segment compromised doesn’t necessarily mean the downfall of your organization as long as you can deal with the attack quickly.
Furthermore, you can use security tools to ensure that each segment is secured with regard to its required security level. This will make it tougher for hackers to access any two networks with ease as some will have more security than others depending on the sensitivity of the data that passes through the network. Additionally, if you use a server monitoring tool along with network security tools, it will become quite easy to notice the signs of a breach and attend to it before hackers can cause big problems.
Increased Network Efficiency
When computers are communicating with each other, they send content in packets. These packets tend to contain details such as the sender, the receiver and the message. In an unsegmented network, any computer can send data to any other one in the network.
In case any two computer troubleshooters send data simultaneously, it will often result in the collision of the packets which might distort the message and make communication inefficient. A segmented network reduces the risk of packet collisions as only computers in the same segment can communicate with each other.
Protect Business From Insider Threats
Not every employee has the same privilege to data access and keeping things this way is the goal of every IT professional. Sadly, unsegmented networks mean that any computer in the network can eavesdrop on traffic from more privileged users, which is an insider threat. In case a spiteful employee gains access to sensitive information such as company secrets, they might use it against your organization. Segmenting your network helps to fortify privileged access. No unauthorized devices will find their way into a network that traffics sensitive information.
What To Consider When Segmenting Your Network
Before segmenting your network, assess your data and tell the sensitive data apart from the less sensitive data. Also, think about who you would authorize to access the data and how. In case the corporate data in question should be accessed by every company device within the organization, it doesn’t make sense to segment it.
Think about the tools that you will use to protect this data. Since segmentation is not a one-time process, you should also have a dedicated team that’s in charge of the data. In case this might seem too overwhelming for your organization, there is always the option of outsourcing the work.
Conclusion
It is never enough to rely on security tools to achieve optimal security. Segmenting your networks is only an extra step to achieve security in depth. Consider segmenting your network to enjoy the above and more benefits.
