Legacy hardware-based applications existed happily in isolation, untethered from a network.
Today, even the software running from personal hard drives relies on other applications across the network to perform.
Many modern apps run off a remote server, which demands optimum network performance.
Cloud applications depend on every network link running at its best.
Network performance defines how well an application runs and how happy a person who is using it is.
Network behavior analysis helps secure and optimize the performance of the network upon which applications run and does so through a specialized form of network monitoring.
It works by monitoring all aspects of the network that impacts user and application experience.
This monitoring spots performance issues that can be solved with network fixes or upgrades, as well as anomalous behavior that could indicate a cyber incursion that not only degrades application performance but can also cripple operations.
This single view of network activity, performance, and behavior, along with alerts, helps IT professionals quickly discover and address network problems.
The biggest user experience crusher is when the network or application is down or crippled into non-usability.
Discovering the problem and pinpointing the cause requires deep and complete visibility into the network.
When application errors arise, network monitoring offers error details such as the actual transaction error with further details including a timestamp, user identification data and information about transaction.
For troubleshooting, network pros can drill-down into the transaction and get more data such as the response time, username and whether there is a defined SLA attached to that application.
Good network defense is based on defense in depth, which starts with firewalls, often bolstered by other perimeter security tools such as intrusion detections systems and intrusion prevention systems.
Hack these remote devices and you hack a good chunk of the network itself.
Antivirus/anti-malware is just one piece of the network protection puzzle.
Unlike antivirus/anti-malware, network behavior analysis does not depend upon signatures of known exploits to detect attacks, but tracks and analyzes actual network behavior to find abnormal actions that are an early warning of attack.
Network behavior analysis learns a lot from the network telemetry data produced by routers, switches and countless other network devices.
An NBA solution collects and analyzes this network telemetry data and compares it to baselines of normal behavior to spot anomalies.
They can learn the traffic characteristics of users and the enterprise's network services, and intelligently discern the difference between normal and abnormal behavior.
This Cyber News was published on www.helpnetsecurity.com. Publication date: Mon, 18 Dec 2023 05:43:05 +0000