Even when almost everybody agrees to the part that Network Security is a vital organ of the IT infrastructure system. Yet, there are newer worries that underline just how critical it is to take network security seriously.  With the changing face of the internet — from desktops to handheld devices and from data centers to cloud computing and IoT — network security too, has changed colors.  All this has resulted in sudden surge in respondent networks & internet activities. And hence cyber threats has also been seen rising. More and more devices, networks and people are vulnerable to cyber threats like phishing, attacks and malwares.

According to the 2015 Trustwave Global Security Report, 98% of applications tested were vulnerable to attacks, whereas 95% of mobile applications have at least one known vulnerability. Nearly 43% breach investigations were reported by the retail sector, with a 42% in the e-commerce sector, because both these sectors were characterized by high volumes of payment activities.

Limitations & challenges

As the statistical analysis suggests, conventional mechanisms to deal with Network Security are not sufficiently enough. Perimeter-centric defense mechanisms are primarily designed to protect the network, and not the data that flows. With Cloud Computing & IoT, the definition of a perimeter is becoming hard to concretize. In the new age context, the perimeter-centric strategies are  inadequate for sophisticated attacks, with no mechanisms for data-in-motion security.

With the kind of Data & High-speed networks and ever increasing bandwidth, conventional mechanisms are finding it difficult to scale-up. Effective changes in network usage patterns have added another level of challenges. Retail, e-commerce like online industries are in booming phase and vast majority of people are using their mobile devices to purchase online. All these have been changing dimensions of Networks and simultaneously of Network Security of course. Cloud Computing & IoT adds up to network traffic at a very large scale.

Even though there is need for analyzing everything that goes out and comes in your network, user experience can’t be compromised. Variety of things happening on internet puts enough challenges in front of manual or defined set of rules. Need of the hour is Behavioral Analysis, Predictive Analysis – machines talking and learning, staying ahead in time, learning from mistakes and building intelligence to defend network & data from possible external attacks.

So keep your web application as secure as you can.