Network security is of paramount concern for all businesses in 2021 and beyond, one facet of network security that should be at the forefront of most organizations is Configuration and Compliance Management.
Creating and enforcing configuration and compliance management ensures that all your network devices are configured to meet your organisation’s standards and requirements. It also encapsulates all connected devices and helps identify potential risks.
The average cost of a cybercrime attack on an Australian business is $276,323. It then takes a company an average of 23 days to recover from an attack, this stresses the importance of having configuration and compliance in place. Simple processes for opConfig involve backing up all configuration data of your network devices, comparing configuration between your devices, and creating events when configuration changes. When it comes to recuperating from an attack or fixing the problem caused by a breach, heavy losses of time and money are a continual variable amongst many businesses, these are reduced by using opConfig if they occur at all.
Unauthorised devices, installing non-compliant software, or user errors are just a few ways of how systems can be compromised. From Open-AudIT to monitor new devices on a network or non-authorised software installation to using opConfig to monitor default passwords enabled, these risks can be reduced.
Early warnings are paramount to network security
Early warnings are essential for network security. If you can detect a security or compliance breach early, it’s easier to stop and prevent damage. But most companies don’t have the tools they need to do this effectively. Despite this, Opmantek senior engineer Mark Henry said many IT systems were running with low-scale early warning solutions.
“Generally speaking, a lot of the customers that we talked to, who haven’t adopted NMIS (Network Management Information System) as their network monitoring solution, are sitting down around the level zero or level one area (Gartner’s IT Service Management Maturity Model). That’s also the same for many kinds of low end, off-the-shelf, free or open-source monitoring solutions,” he said.
The truth is that most companies don’t have the time or resources to monitor their networks 24/7. Using NMIS, a reliable and robust monitoring system, means you don’t have to.
The benefits of an integrated network management information system
Network Management Information System (NMIS) is an open-source network management system that provides real-time monitoring, configuration, and troubleshooting capabilities. It’s used by many companies worldwide who are looking for ways to manage their networks efficiently, integrating this with other modules that Opmantek offer will help build an efficient and effective strategy to help mitigate network security risk.
Open-AudIT can be installed onto Linux, Windows, or Virtual machines and once installed, needs only credentials and a subnet to discover all the devices attached to that network. Integrating Open-AudIT and NMIS is incredibly easy, Open-AudIT will discover all the devices on your network and with a click of a button, they will all be managed by NMIS, read more here. Integrating opConfig into this is a matter of importing the nodes from NMIS and then creating/applying a credential set for that node, detailed here. From here, we have a system in place that will discover any devices on your network, monitor all software installations, monitor the status/availability of devices, and report on any configuration changes.
To test this out on a lab network, download Opmantek’s virtual machine, with everyone installed and ready to go, and see how easy it is to get ahead of network issues.
