Network Traffic Analysis – NTA tools and cybersecurity are two key areas of IT security. Both are essential to protect an organization’s systems and data. This article will discuss the importance of NTA tools and how they can help improve cybersecurity.
Network Traffic Analysis gives security professionals the ability to analyze and monitor network traffic in real time. This enables them to identify anomalous behavioral patterns and detect potential security threats. In addition, these tools can also help identify network vulnerabilities and provide solutions to improve security.
There are various types of Network Traffic Analysis – NTA tools available on the market, ranging from free solutions to advanced paid tools. While free solutions tend to be less complex and provide fewer features than paid solutions, they can still be of use to small businesses or organizations with limited budgets. Paid solutions tend to be more advanced and provide more features, such as automatic threat detection and integration with other security systems.
A key step in configuring Network Traffic Analysis – NTA is to ensure data is collected from the right sources. Flow data is very useful when looking for traffic volumes and mapping the journey of a network packet from its origin to its destination. But while this level of information is useful in helping to detect unauthorized WAN traffic and utilize network resources and performance, it can lack the detailed data and context required to delve deeper into cybersecurity issues if it is received from the wrong sources.
Network Traffic Analysis solutions can analyze all entities and devices making up your network, whether managed or unmanaged. NTA solutions ingest telemetry data from a range of network devices (e.g., routers, switches and firewalls) to determine what their “normal” behavior looks like and how and who is accessing parts of your network.
And everything connects to the network, so this visibility extends beyond the head office to include branch offices, datacenters, roaming users and smart devices. Whether on-premises, in the cloud or a combination of the two, NTA solutions can give you the visibility and context you so desperately need to know what’s going on in your network.
Packet data extracted from network packets can help network administrators understand how users are implementing and operating applications, track usage on WAN links, and check for suspicious malware or other security incidents. Deep packet inspection (DPI) tools provide 100% visibility over the network by changing the unprocessed metadata into a readable format and giving network and security managers the ability to dig down into the smallest detail.
Benefits of Network Traffic Analysis
In today’s landscape, every company is at risk of suffering a cyberattack. The key is when and how big – so for security professionals it can feel overwhelming when trying to ensure that as much of an organization’s environment as possible is covered. The network is a critical element of their attack surface, so by gaining visibility into their network data, they have another area where they can detect attacks and stop them in time. The benefits of Network Traffic Analysis – NTA include:
- improved visibility of devices connecting to your network
- Resolve operational and security problems
- Faster incident response times (MTTR)
Once a Network Traffic Analysis solution determines what normal behavior looks like on your network, it can alert your organization in the event of anomalous circumstances. By alerting your security team to suspicious activity early on whether the threat originates from outside or within your network, NTA solutions provide the increased visibility necessary to mitigate the security incident.
Network traffic analysis can attribute malicious behavior to a specific IP address. It can also perform forensic analysis to determine how a threat has moved laterally within the organization and allow you to see other devices that might be infected. This enables a faster response to prevent an attack from causing damage to the business.
In conclusion, a Network Traffic Analysis – NTA tool is a must for any company that wants to control what is happening within its network and determine whether it is making proper use of its infrastructure from the point of view of performance and business purpose. And if such a tool has Machine Learning technology enabling it to model the behavior of users or devices, it can also help prevent cybersecurity incidents by detecting anomalous behavior stemming from some sort of malware in the network.
Teldat’s be.Safe XDR tool gives its customers this much-needed network visibility and, together with its Machine Learning module, allows them to detect anomalous behavior – this being the only way to detect zero-day attacks
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