Ensure Safety Of The Network With Packet Capture Tools

With unprecedented growth of sophisticated intruding techniques, there are high chances

that your data is accessible to many people. Some people are lurking in the dark, to capture

and misuse your data or might just be doing it to harass you. The mischief and the

disturbance that a hacker can cause in your life are preventable. Some measures are there

that you can use to protect your data from reaching the hands of a dishonest person. The

technique of Packet Capture helps you to intercept and analyze all information, which

passes through a network, and retain useful information.

Simple To Use Tool

The packet sniffing techniques were originally used by the network administrators to detect

if there is any intruder in your system, or to correct the network problems. With the

proliferation of internet related activities and the issues related to it, the tool is now used by

anyone who needs to store data on a system. More and new security tools are available in

the market, and you do not require any mystical knowledge and skills to use them in your

system. The multiplicities of Packet Capture tools are easy to use, and you can use them if

you put in a little practice.

Poor End-User Experience

If you are running a business, where the end-user needs to access your system easily to

order products through it, you need to use Packet Capture tools. In case you have an online

shop, a poor user experience can cost you your customers, who will quickly shift

allegiances. If you get complaints that your system is slow, capture data to find any

anomalies in the network. When you use a packet sniffing tool, it calculates the response

time of your system and applications, to determine what is affecting the user experience.

Some software's let you glance through the network and application performance metrics so

that you can detect the problem and solve it.

The Issue Of Bandwidth Usage

You often hear people, complaining that the internet connection is down or is slow, at your

business establishment with many computers using the same network. You might think of

buying more bandwidth, without trying to find the cause of the problem. The real reason of

inaccessibility of the internet or some of the apps could be bandwidth hogging. You can use

the packet capture tools to monitor the network traffic. The tool helps you to identify the

applications, protocols and the users who are using maximum bandwidth. If you find some

users or applications that are hogging your bandwidth, shut them down to get better

internet speed.

Spikes In Data Flow

A sudden spurt in data flow through your network is an indication of some kind of security

breach. The Packet Capture software allows you to analyse the packets of data and also

displays the volume of data that is passing through the network. It also gives you the

transaction amount for applications. You can also scan the IP address and also connect to

shared folders, even if they are enabled on a remote machine. You can use the network

scanning tool on any device that uses the network including the mobile phones, tablets,

routers and the desktop.

Have A Clear Policy Regarding Network Security

Traditionally people have been using vulnerabilities in systems and applications to breach

Network Security. The most common method used to prevent this is the installation of

antivirus software that can detect the malware that is trying to exploit the system

vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities in a network or software can be easily fixed by experts

who patch the system to remove the loopholes. In spite of these solutions, there are cases

of a security breach that happen frequently. There is another method that the immoral

persons are using to intrude your system undetected. Stealing and using your passwords

to break into a network often goes undetected.

Protect Your Credentials

To safeguard the security of your network as also to deter persons from using your log-in

data to misuse a system, you need to invest in techniques of breach detection and incidence

response. YOU need to install special, security measures, as the malpractices that involve

credential stealing bypasses the traditional digital security software. The credential attacks

happen through many stages and are complex. Your Network Security system should be

able to scan all stages of the process so that the breach is visible in whichever stage it

happens. Early detection will enhance chances of responding swiftly to the attack and

restoring the security of your network.

Create A Checklist

If you are the head of an IT team or take care of your Network Security, you need to create

a list of tasks that you must do to ensure the safety of your network. You need to work with

your team members, the management, the legal counsel to create a fool-proof list for your

specific systems environment. Do not try to follow the system that some other firm or

company has. Your business requirements, the local regulatory laws and other factors that

are typical of your business are factors that will affect the need for network security

solutions.

The User Accounts

Your IT system works because there are users. But the users are the weakest link in the

whole system. You need to train the users before giving them a network account and ensure

that the person knows what not to do while using the system. Do not allow the system of

shared accounts and have a clear policy about the penalty. Multifactor authentication is

another step towards data protection. Persons not working in a group should not have

access to the resources in that group. Review group membership regularly and delete

accounts that are not in use for more than 90 days or lesser.

Devise Clear Policies

The implementation of Network Security practices requires a lot of planning. You need to formulate

and codify the policies explicitly. Making a system and expecting others to follow does not

work. You have to create the plan and get approval from the management and ensure that

all your team members are aware of them. Policies hold weight when people know them. If

you do not have anything written down in black and white and make people sign the

documents before using the network, you cannot charge them for any breaches. The

existence of rules itself deters a person from breaking it.

Benefits of Installing An Intrusion Prevention System

With hazards to the security of your computer networks increasing day by day, you require

many layers of security strategies to protect your system. For a layman, this concept of

intrusion prevention and detection might appear to be something weird and not necessary.

You may also not think it unimportant to invest any money in buying the security systems.

This is one of the reasons why there are so many cases when people lose millions, and then

regret their decision of not getting appropriate security measures for their computer

networks. Whether you are the owner of business or a professional, you require Intrusion

Prevention technology.

Provides Maximum Security

The Intrusion Prevention system provides much more security than a basic firewall or an

antivirus does. The technique involves monitoring the flow of traffic that moves through

your system, to detect any anomaly and prevent the attacker from exploiting the

vulnerabilities in your network. This system is an upgraded version of an intrusion detection

system that is a passive, and only reports the threats to the system. By the time you take

action, the attacker may disable the target application, after a successful exploit. The

defensive system sits behind the firewall and detects all dangerous traffic that is flowing

through your network and takes automatic action.

The Action It Takes

The capacity of the Intrusion Prevention mechanism to deny access to any threatening

traffic into your system makes it very useful. There are some methods that the system uses

to restrict the traffic flow. The program sounds an alarm to the network administrator as

soon as it detects any threat. The security system also drops the data packets that it reads

as malicious. Another advantageous feature of the program is that it blocks all traffic from

the IP address from which the malicious packets seem to be coming. It, however, does not

prevent the system from working. After restricting the threat factors, the system resets the

connection so that you can continue to work.

Wide Range of Security

You do not know which methods the attacker will use to enter your system, but the

Intrusion Prevention kit does. The active system detects particular methods that the

attacker uses to get harmful files on your system. Your system gets protection from known

as well as unknown threats to security. When using this system, you can protect your

network from a wide variety of security threats. No matter, if the threats come from zero-

day exploits, from system vulnerabilities, exploit kits or social networking sites, the tool

prevents them all. Malvertising and online scams are other threats that the program

protects you from.

The Business Benefits

Intrusion into your system can lead to loss of critical data. If you are a professional lawyer,

an income tax officer or an insurance company representative, your data are critical not

only to you but to your clients. It is your duty to protect the information, which your

customers have shared with you for professional reasons. Installing an intrusion prevention

system ensures that all the confidential information, and critical assets, that you have

stored in your system is not available to any unscrupulous user. The cost of installing a

system is minimal in comparison to what you lose, in the case of a breach of security to

your network.

Intrusion Detection System Provides Unmatched Threat Protection

Intrusion Detection system or IDS is security software that has been designed to

automatically alert your network when someone is trying to hack the information system

through malicious or unscrupulous activities. An IDS functions by complex monitoring of

weaknesses in the system, the integrity of files and analyzing the patterns based on already

known threats. It also automatically searches the internet for any potential threats that

could result in a future attack. It can be used effectively and efficiently to detect intrusions

from outside as well as misuse from within by using vulnerability assessment.

Principal Components of IDS

IDS could either be signature based or anomaly-based detection. The former helps to detect

known threats, but is not effective in locating unknown or hidden threats. On the contrary,

the latter compares the characteristics of a normal action against the traits of an abnormal

event. The three main components of an Intrusion Detection system are Network Intrusion

detection system or NIDS, Network node Intrusion Detection System or NNIDS, and Host

Intrusion Detection System or HIDS. NIDS analyzes the network traffic on a whole subnet

and matches it to the already known attacks. As opposed to this, NNIDS monitors the traffic

on a single host instead of the entire subnet using a network tap or a span port. HIDS which

is used to detect malicious activity on a specific device takes pictures of all the files of an

entire system and warns the user if there is any significant difference. Thus, the intruder

security system helps to protect millions of homes, businesses and government offices

across the world.

Advanced Policy Management

Due to the rapid increase in intrusions on the various sites and networks due to the

sophisticated attack techniques, there is an increasing requirement for the development for

IDS. In a rapidly developing technological world, regular research and development are

required to bring out the best quality and most innovative security products. Since your

service provider is supporting diverse applications and operating systems simultaneously,

maintenance can be a complicated procedure. This causes systems to be susceptible to

potential threats and therefore, you need around the clock security monitoring, advanced

policy management and analysis of networks which is provided by an efficient, simplified

and cost-effective Intrusion Detection System.

Comprehensive Protection Against Threats

The Intrusion Detection System protects your system from internet threats and achieves

unmatched levels of performance and productivity without compromising on safety. The

research and development team continuously strive with their persistent efforts to provide

you with advanced security and threat protection. Your network, servers, endpoints and

applications which are your critical business assets are comprehensively secured against

malicious threats. The highly skilled and expert security analysts efficiently manage the

devices and configuration policies that are designed to help you.

Integrated Network Security

In the modern world, it is very easy for hackers to sneak into your system and access your

vital and valuable data using state of the art tools and techniques. Therefore, you require an

integrated network security to provide comprehensive protection. The IDS coordinates

efficiently with intelligence collecting systems, security tools, and data protection systems

which keep your valuable data locked to effectively combat intrusions on soft targets so that

you are assured of complete protection on a larger spectrum.