Best Tips For Monitoring Network Traffic On Your Network

Monitoring traffic on your network is essential if you want to keep it safe and efficient. Information obtained from Network Traffic Monitor tools can be used in a variety of operational and IT security cases to identify security vulnerabilities, troubleshoot network problems, and analyze the impact that new applications will have on the network. These five tips should help you get the most out of your network traffic monitoring application.

How To Monitor Network Traffic –

Monitoring network traffic is an incredibly powerful way to understand your computing environment. For many companies, network performance is critical, and if they fail or are at the limit, there will be adverse effects that can cost time, money and resources.

To understand, prevent, and solve these problems, there are many methods available to monitor network traffic. Most importantly, the first thing to focus on is, "what do you want to achieve?" Are you looking to understand a specific problem? This can be a preview of this improvement in your knowledge of what is happening in your network. Whatever the reason, having a predefined goal is essential.

·         Choose The Right Data Source

·         Pick The Correct Points On The Network To Monitor

·         Sometimes Real-Time Data Is Not Enough

·         Associate The Data With Usernames

·         Check The Flows And Packet Payloads For Suspicious Content

Choose the Right Data Source –

Whatever the reason for monitoring network traffic, you have a choice of two primary sources of data:

Streaming data: which can be purchased from Layer 3 devices such as routers.

Package data: obtained from SPAN, mirrored ports, or TAP

Stream data is high if you're looking for traffic volumes and map the path of a network packet from source to destination. This level of information can help detect unauthorized WAN traffic and use network resources and performance. However, flow-based tools to monitor network traffic do not have detailed data to identify many network security issues or perform an accurate root cause analysis.

Packet data retrieved from network packets can help network administrators understand how users deploy/operate applications, monitor usage on WAN links, and monitor suspicious malware or other security incidents. Deep packet inspection tools provide 100% network visibility, transforming raw metadata into a readable format that allows network administrators to delve into every detail.

Pick the Correct Points On The Network to Monitor –

Naturally, with agent-based software, you must install the software on each device you want to monitor. This is not only a meaningful way to monitor network traffic but also generates a significant implementation and maintenance overhead for IT teams. Besides, if your goal is to monitor activity in a BYOD or a publicly available network, agent-based software will not provide a complete picture of user activity, since it is impractical (and illegally) in some states) to monitor activity . device user device activity.

Even with agentless software, many people make a mistake when implementing network monitoring tools. It is not necessary to monitor every point of the network. Instead, you must choose the locations where the data converge. Internet gateways, Ethernet ports on WAN routers, or VLANs associated with critical servers are examples.

If you are new to your network, you would like to start your Internet access door (s). This can be an excellent source of operational and safety data. This short circuit can do this with Cisco switches: a similar approach can be applied to other switch providers.

The image below shows an excellent approach to monitor network traffic. A-SPAN port or mirror is configured for the core of the network and allows the capture of any direct traffic. In my example, it would be possible to update the Internet.

Sometimes Real-time Data is Not Enough –

The ability to monitor network traffic in real-time is sufficient to achieve many network traffic monitoring goals, but sometimes real-time data is not enough. Historical traffic metadata is ideal for forensic network analysis and is just as crucial if you want to analyze past events, identify trends, or compare current network activity with last week. For these purposes, it is best to use tools to monitor network traffic with thorough packet inspection.

Some network traffic monitoring tools choose to age the data. This means that the more you go back in time, the fewer details you get. While this may save disk space, it is not an ideal solution if you are trying to determine how an attacker could overcome his defenses to crash malware on the network. Without accurate and complete event data, you can continue to search for answers that no longer exist.

It is also a good idea to keep in mind that some network traffic monitoring systems and SIEMs base their pricing on the amount of data you want to store. Note this when evaluating solutions. Other device-based tools are limited to the specifications of the system you buy, and an upgrade becomes a costly replacement device. The most flexible option is a network traffic monitoring software tool that allows you to allocate disk space that you deem appropriate.

Associate the Data With Usernames –

Traditional network traffic monitoring tools often report activity using IP or MAC addresses. While this information is useful, it can be problematic in your environment. User information can collect network activities and devices. The username association will tell you who is doing what on the network.

Check the Flows and Packet Payloads for Suspicious Content –

Many networks have edge intrusion detection systems, but very few have this type of technology to monitor internal traffic. All that is required is a mobile device or IoT not allowed to compromise a network. Another problem that I often see is the firewall that allows suspicious traffic through which a rule has been misconfigured.

The image below gives an example: someone created a rule to allow incoming traffic on TCP 5901 (VLC Remote Desktop Sharing) but did not limit it to a source and a destination. Personal addresses, in this case, appear to be registered in China, and this country's connections should not connect to this network.