Business Network Visibility & Monitoring: The Complete Guide

Are you tired of a continuous and tedious process of vulnerability management? 

If you want to maximize security, implement robust security policies, and protect your organization, you need to implement business network visibility solution to your business. It’ll help you analyze all data moving across the network and identify (and prevent) any threats.

Let’s learn more now!

What is Network Visibility?

Network visibility is a continuous process of monitoring of all activities, traffic, and components within a network. This encompasses plenty of different processes, such as:

  • Analyzing the data moving across the network
  • Understanding network performance
  • Identifying connected devices (mobile devices, etc.)

Achieving complete insight into a network involves using advanced tools and technologies to collect, analyze, and make sense of network data. This includes examining network traffic, analyzing logs, and applying modern network monitoring solutions.

Why is Network Visibility Important?

Network visibility is critical for several reasons, including:

  • Security. Network visibility facilitates early detection of irregular patterns, unauthorized access, weak passwords, or the presence of malware – helping you mitigate any potential weakness.
  • Performance optimization. It assists in identifying bottlenecks, reducing latency issues, and addressing areas of congestion – ensuring the network operates efficiently.
  • Troubleshooting and maintenance. Providing detailed insights into network operations, which implifies the process of diagnosing and resolving network issues.

If you’re looking to sustain a high-performing, secure, and resilient network, you need to incorporate network visibility and monitoring tools into your business.

The Most Common Challenges of Network Visibility

Of course, every coin has two sides — and network visibility is no different. If you’re looking to add network visibility tools into your arsenal, you should be aware of these challenges. 

  • Inadequate monitoring tools. Unpatched software or outdated software of monitoring tools may hinder the ability to capture and analyze network data effectively.
  • Lack of real-time analysis. Delays in analyzing network activities in real-time can lead to slower response times and increased potential vulnerability.
  • Lack of integration. Poor integration between different network vulnerability scanning tools and solutions may lead to fragmented visibility and incomplete data analysis.
  • Skill and resource gaps. Insufficient expertise and resources dedicated to network visibility can hinder the effective deployment and management of monitoring solutions.
  • Handling false positives. These are alerts that incorrectly signal threats, leading to unnecessary investigations and potentially diverting attention from real issues.

As you can see,  none of these are the deal-breakers — and you can eliminate any of these ‘cons’ or challenges quickly if you’re aware of them.

Network Visibility Best Practices

If you’re really considering network visibility as a tool for your business, we’re here to help. Here are our top 9 best practices for business network visibility and monitoring:

1. Advanced Monitoring Deployment

Deploy state-of-the-art monitoring tools to continuously track and analyze network activities.

This allows for security vulnerability scanners to immediately identify anomalies, enhancing both device network management and security. For instance, implementing a real-time monitoring system that alerts administrators to unusual traffic patterns can prevent potential breaches before they escalate.

2. User Activity Insights Enhancement

Improve security and network resilience by obtaining detailed insights into user behaviors.

Tools that analyze user activities help identify potential security issues early on. For instance, operating system or software that tracks login times, locations, and access patterns can highlight unauthorized access attempts, enabling quick remediation.

3. Strategic Network Flow Analysis

Apply network flow analysis to understand complex communication patterns and the relationships between network components. This aids in identifying inefficiencies and potential security risks.

Using flow analysis tools, administrators can visualize network traffic, pinpointing areas of high congestion or suspicious data transfers.

4. Regulatory Compliance through Log Analysis

Maintain compliance with regulatory standards by regularly analyzing network logs.

This detailed record-keeping allows for the thorough auditing of network activities. Automated log analysis tools can streamline compliance processes by flagging anomalies and ensuring all actions are traceable, supporting accountability and transparency.

5. Efficient Traffic Management with Network Visibility Fabrics

Network visibility fabrics enhance traffic management by aggregating and routing data to appropriate monitoring and security tools. This setup optimizes the analysis of network traffic, improving the detection of security threats and operational issues.

Implementing a visibility fabric can help manage the flow of data across a network, ensuring efficient processing and analysis.

6. Scalable Solutions for Growing Networks

As networks expand, it’s vital to employ scalable visibility solutions to handle increasing data volumes.

Cloud-based monitoring platforms offer flexibility and scalability, adapting to the growth of network infrastructure without compromising performance or security.

7. Real-time Analysis for Swift Security Measures

Real-time vulnerability analysis capabilities are vital for immediate threat detection and response.

Choosing tools that provide instant feedback on network activities allows for quicker decision-making and enhances the network’s security. For instance, a system that offers real-time alerts on potential security breaches can dramatically reduce the time to respond.

8. Seamless Tool Integration

Integrating various wireless network monitoring tools enhances the overall visibility and analysis capabilities.

Ensuring that different systems can communicate and share data prevents gaps in monitoring and allows for a more comprehensive view of network health. Different integrated network vulnerability assessment tools offer a unified dashboard that simplifies the management of network operations and security.

9. Conducting Regular Penetration Tests

Penetration testing involves simulating cyber attacks (with ethical hackers) against your network to identify potential security weaknesses before attackers can exploit them.

Regular penetration tests help uncover common vulnerabilities in the network’s defenses, providing critical insights that can be used to strengthen security measures. By actively testing the network’s resilience against threats, security teams can ensure a higher level of security and network performance.

Supercharge Cybersecurity with Perimeter 81

Network visibility helps to provide a secure, efficient, and dependable network infrastructure — mitigating any critical vulnerabilities. 

From bolstering security measures and optimizing performance to streamlining troubleshooting processes, its significance spans critical domains. The adoption of advanced tools, strategic methodologies, and best practices is imperative for both small and large businesses aiming to increase their network visibility successfully.

Looking to keep your network security in check?

Book a FREE demo with our security experts and secure your organization right now.

FAQs

What is the difference between network monitoring and network visibility?
While network observability involves the capacity to address inquiries about network conditions and performance, network visibility is an outcome derived from monitoring. It encompasses the data revealed through the utilization of tools and protocols mentioned earlier. Although it entails understanding activities within the network, it lacks the comprehensive nature of observability. Additionally, network visibility remains predominantly centered on individual network assets rather than providing a holistic perspective, and it does not incorporate an end-user viewpoint.
What are the four 4 categories of network monitoring?
The four categories of network monitoring are:

Availability Monitoring: Ensures continuous network functionality by tracking uptime, downtime, and responsiveness.

– Performance Monitoring: Measures and optimizes network speed, bandwidth usage, and overall efficiency for seamless operations.

Configuration Monitoring: Monitors network configurations to detect and address deviations, ensuring alignment with predefined settings.

Cloud Monitoring: Supervises cloud-based network infrastructure, focusing on performance, security, and resource utilization in cloud environments.
Which is the most common tool used for network monitoring?
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) remains a prevalent and extensively utilized tool for network monitoring. Functioning as an internet standard protocol, SNMP empowers network administrators to efficiently manage and monitor various network-connected devices such as routers, switches, servers, and more.