Networks play an essential role in organisations today connecting people, resources and information. They enable communication and services that businesses depend upon, but a lack of control can result in serious security gaps.

Inadequate network defences can leave you unable to control access to data and resources, unable to see what is occurring on the network and open to attack. This is concerning for any organisation and takes on additional significance in environments where compliance requirements are tightly regulated.

A successful approach to network security will protect your infrastructure, allow you to control access to resources and provide you with the ability to segregate the private networks of customers both from other private networks and from the public internet.

As a result greater visibility allows you to see activity on the network and react appropriately. Better control allows you to restrict access to confidential data and resources. Better protection allows you to prevent malicious traffic from entering and traversing the network, as well as preventing intellectual property from leaving your network.

Ultimately network security protects intellectual property, protects your brand and reduces the risk of network service downtime.

Elements of a network security solution include:

Firewall: controls which traffic is allowed to enter or leave the network
Web gateway: controls access to websites and web content
Mail gateway: scans emails for malware and spam
IDS/IPS: analyses traffic within the network perimeter for security issues
Network Access Control: sees every device, controls what it can access and its security stance
DLP: controls who can utilise sensitive data, for example credit card numbers
Authentication: provides an additional security check when users log-in to network resources
Remote access: provides off-site users with a highly secure connection to network resources

Managed authentication services
Managed network access control services