A Visibility Architecture, is an end-to-end approach to network, application, and security visibility. For some, the first questions asked will likely be “What is a Visibility Architecture?” and “Can it really help me?” The answer to both questions is a resounding yes! First of all, what do we even mean by visibility? Visibility is defined by Webster as the “capability of being readily noticed” or “the degree of clearness.” By network or application visibility, for example, we are talking a...

Maximizing the Value and Resiliency of Your Deployed Enterprise Security Solution with Intelligent Load Balancing Correctly implementing your security solution in the presence of complex, high-volume user traffic has always been a difficult challenge for network architects. The data in transit on your network originates from many places and fluctuates with respect to data rates, complexity, and the occurrence of malicious events. Internal users create vastly different network traffic than extern...

Planning for the Future As we approach the New Year, many organizations’ data centers and network configurations are in lockdown mode. Whether this is due to assuming a defensive posture against the onslaught of holiday ecommerce traffic, or an accommodation to vacationing staff, the situation provides network managers an opportunity to perform a year-end network monitoring assessment Establish Future Goals, Identify Current Weaknesses and Make Sure Core Tasks and Goals Are Achieved   Q. Ho...

More mobile devices are now connecting to more data from more sources. IT challenges are complicated by increasingly high customer expectations for always-on access and immediate application response. This complexity creates network "blind spots" where latent errors germinate, and pre-attack activity lurks. Stressed-out monitoring systems make it hard, if not impossible, to keep up with traffic and filter data "noise" at a rate that they were not designed to handle. Network blind spots have beco...

If the term Network Packet Broker (NPB) is not familiar, now is the time to get acquainted with this invaluable and frequently overlooked device. Think of NPBs as helpful middlemen that sort, distribute, and optimize the flow of network data going to your monitoring and security tools. By receiving only the data they need and eliminating irrelevant...

In today's connected world, your network is one of your most important assets. An underperforming network is something you cannot afford, be it from a performance or from a security standpoint, because it can greatly hinder your business's capabilities.In order to ensure optimum performance and security at all times, network engineers need a clear,...

By Jason Lackey, Network and Security Marketing, Keysight Technologies Monitoring tools have always been critical for ensuring network performance and security. Top vendors have designed new tools specifically for monitoring networks with virtualization, cloud infrastructure, distributed data centers, and edge computing. Way back in 2016, Enterpris...

​I ran across an interesting statistic a couple weeks ago. According to a Ponemon Institute, report titled "The State of Cybersecurity in the Oil & Gas Industry", 68 percent of security and risk managers reported losing confidential information or experiencing disruption over the previous year. The existence of security breaches for the last fi...

​The recently released 2019 State of the Cloud report by RightScale found that 58% of 800 technical professionals surveyed use a hybrid strategy [1]. Combining on-premises, virtual, and cloud-based resources offers great flexibility, but managing hybrid IT is also more complex. IT teams need new strategies to monitor their hybrid infrastructure eff...

How do you ensure maximum service availability while protecting and securing your enterprise? IT departments have been wrestling with this problem for years. Virtualization and mobility are expanding the traditional network boundary, which means data and assets no longer sit in a single location behind a firewall.  Network security monitoring ...

​Each of us has sat in standstill traffic, trying to understand why this major highway we drive all the time has suddenly backed up, with our phone maps application showing a line of red for the next mile or two. As we crawl towards the bottleneck, we see it: A fender bender with dented cars still blocking a lane of traffic. We see police on the sc...

Monitoring tools have always been critical for ensuring network performance and security. Top vendors have designed new tools specifically for monitoring networks with virtualization, cloud infrastructure, distributed data centers, and edge computing. Way back in 2016, Enterprise Management Associates found that 24% of enterprises used 6-10 monitor...

​In today's 24x7, "always on" world, the company's data network must be as reliable as possible. Otherwise, revenue reduction and productivity losses are not only possible, but probable. This includes inline security and monitoring tools which can become a single point of failure. Security and monitoring tool survivability is often thought about in...

More and more managers and system admins feel challenged when dealing with the mass of information and volume of data that passes through their network each day. Network data visualization access tools help network admins keep an eye on what is always happening on the their network. This means these tools play an important role in any complex ...

​Ixia's Vision X network packet broker offers a high-density, modular platform to keep pace with evolving data center needs "Today's network and security operations teams are faced with increasing data volumes and velocity that are exceeding human scale," said Bob Laliberte, Sr. Analyst at ESG. "It is impossible to effectively manage the security a...

​The last decade experienced an overwhelming increase in network size, bandwidth, and traffic. IT companies were, therefore, forced to adapt by developing the next-generation of security and network monitoring tools. This new wave of tools exposed a greater need for advanced network visibility, one that traditional data center monitoring devices co...

Anyone in network security knows that it is a complicated and involved process. The clear goal is to prevent security breaches. How do you go about that though? There are so many schools of thought, methods, and configurations. Here are just a few examples: Cyber range trainingCyber resilienceDefense in depthEncryptionEndpoint securityFirewallsInli...

Security is nowadays an important part of network management. Secure networks are vital for running an uninterrupted business, preventing data loss and maintaining the overall image of the business. Security challenges are increasing because networking is getting more complex, more dynamic and virtual. The existing approach of network visibility li...

​The importance of having a quality network test access port (TAP) when conducting Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) has been covered in a white paper by Profitap, titled "Special Tool for Special Forces: Tapping into real-time threats in the cyberspace". In addition to the points presented in the white paper, I would like to provide a...

​Growing traffic volume is a challenge for NetOps and SecOps as they work to ensure high-quality network performance and network security. As traffic volume exceeds a monitoring tool's capacity, congestion at the data port can cause a tool to slow down, start dropping packets, or even stop working altogether. While you wait for budget approval to a...