For Network Security, We Need a Superhero

As children, many of us wished to be superheroes. We wanted to possess exceptional and unique powers that others didn’t have. We wanted to demolish the villains — and if a cape was involved, all the better.

What exactly does a superhero possess that normal folks don’t? Some great ability, be it great strength, speed, sight or the like. And the superhero is always — I repeat, always — on the good side. In the IT world, we live surrounded by supervillain hackers using advanced persistent threats to attack our networks and data; we need superheroes to protect our infrastructure. What sort of features can make your network security solution your very own superhero?

Network Security Essential 1: Intelligence

“Knowledge is power.” This age-old phrase still carries value in differentiating the extraordinary from the ordinary. Professor X of the X-Men uses his mutant telepathy powers to read the minds of others and control them. Network security solutions are only as effective as the intelligence they carry — thus, the width and depth of that intelligence defines its protection capability. For example, this is the focus of our IBM X-Force security research team. Getting deep insights into the worldwide threat landscape from multiple sources, the team is aware of the latest vulnerabilities and exploits in real time. This is converted to intelligence that is used by the individual network security products, empowering each of them to become extraordinary protectors. This type of intelligence is crucial for your organization.

Network Security Essential 2: Visibility

Superman’s X-ray vision enables him to see through solid objects and prevent catastrophes before they happen. Visibility is the first step toward securing an entity. From an infrastructure security perspective, it becomes extremely important for the solution to have visibility into the actions executed within the enterprise — application activities over the network, URLs visited, malicious intrusions, etc. Without visibility, action is impossible. Your network protection solution should focus on providing this additional visibility into the network activities from a traffic, application and user perspective; it then empowers this visibility with controls.

Network Security Essential 3: Control

Be it superior strength, the ability to spin unbreakable webs or telepathic mind-control capabilities, superhero supremacy boils down to this ultimate empowerment. With just intelligence and visibility and no control, our superhero would be left helpless. In a similar manner, a network security solution has to be empowered to take action. You need the ability to act. From granular application controls to quarantining capabilities, you network protection should be enabled to prevent attacks before they manifest. In addition, your network protection should empower you to take reverse instruction from your Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM).

With the ever-changing and progressing threat landscape, it is essential to intelligently plan your security setup. Each security appliance can turn into your superhero once it is embedded with the right capabilities. Get a network security solution that becomes a silent guardian, a watchful protector and your very own “Bright Knight.”