Learn how you can improve your security posture with FirstWave’s powerful discovery and auditing tool.

As business networks grow and modernize, attack surfaces continue to increase, leaving more opportunities for bad actors to strike. According to Forrester, “two years ago, 63% [of organizations] said they had been breached at least once in the past year. This year, that number rose to 78%.”

Every October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the perfect opportunity to review and strengthen your security posture, preventing your business from becoming a statistic. The theme for Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024 is “Cybersecurity is everyone’s business”. As part of this theme, governments and cybersecurity authorities are promoting four key focus areas:

1. Turn on multi-factor authentication
2. Keep devices and software up to date
3. Use strong and unique passwords
4. Recognize and report phishing.

Some of these focus areas are straightforward, but others—like keeping devices and software up to date—become more difficult to achieve as your network expands. In this blog, we’ll look at how using a comprehensive discovery, auditing, and compliance tool like Open-AudIT makes it easy for you to audit your devices and software from end to end – plus so much more.

About Open-AudIT

Do you really know everything that’s connected to your network beyond computers? Do you know who has access to what, and which software programs are installed on different devices? What if you could get all of this information in one tool?

Each device on your network forms part of your attack surface; the more you expand, the larger that attack surface becomes. But Open-AudIT gives you complete visibility and control of your network, enabling you to identify gaps in your network and secure it from end to end.

With intelligent discovery, auditing, and compliance features, Open-AudIT gives you immediate access to software licensing, configuration changes, non-authorized devices, capacity utilization, hardware warranty status reports, and more. Plus, the software is free to use (with the option to purchase additional feature sets).

How Open-AudIT improves your cybersecurity

You can use Open-AudIT to do more than just keep your devices and software up to date; you can use its intelligent features to meet a range of security controls and protect your network.

Accurate device discovery

Open-AudIT’s discovery feature identifies every device on your network, giving your security team full visibility and helping you meet system inventory controls. By keeping an accurate inventory of all your systems and devices you can effectively manage security risks, patch vulnerabilities, and respond to incidents quickly.

• Scheduled discoveries automatically discover all network-connected devices, including any unauthorized or unknown devices that could pose security risks, as well as identifying potential threats.
• You can also run an unscheduled discovery by setting the parameters of what you want to interrogate (for example, an IP address range) and running a search to see everything on your network that fits within these parameters.
• If you want to see everything, you can run a seed discovery. This is where Open-AudIT discovers all connected devices connected to a single “seed” router, continuing to run subsequent discoveries until you have a complete picture of every device on your network.

Extensive asset management reports

Open-AudIT collects massive amounts of data—including user permissions, software versions, serial numbers, and IP addresses—to give you access to over 80 types of reports, making it easy to meet asset management controls. Use these reports to maintain current device configuration records, keep security patches up to date, identify unapproved devices, quickly isolate compromised devices, and keep compliance with security policies.

Software license auditing

Outdated or unsupported software leaves you susceptible to cyberattacks. Open-AudIT keeps a detailed log of installed software to help you ensure that only authorized versions are present and that your systems are up to date.

Continuous monitoring for shadow IT

Open-AudIT helps you identify unauthorized devices or malicious activities on your network, known as shadow IT, through continuous network monitoring. Detecting these abnormalities is essential for ensuring only authorized devices are communicating over your network, meeting critical security controls and protecting your business.

Change tracking

Open-AudIT tracks changes to specific device attributes, including installed software, hardware, and settings, for easy auditing and change management. FirstWave’s opConfig also supports comprehensive configuration change tracking for network devices with a CLI-targeted inventory.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Open-AudIT gives you granular control over user permissions, helping you filter and limit access to sensitive network data within the platform. This reduces the risk of insider threats by ensuring that only authorized personnel can modify or view critical network information.

Configuration benchmarks and compliance

Open-AudIT can compare device, software, and user configurations against pre-defined benchmarks. This helps you spot deviations that could signal a vulnerability or misconfiguration, helping you resolve them quickly. Open-AudIT’s scheduled scans also help detect any changes in device configurations, ensuring compliance with security protocols and alerting users to potential risks before they escalate.

If you use Open-AudIT Enterprise, you can even set custom benchmarks to help you achieve compliance for both internal and industry security standards. You can either custom-define your own benchmarks based on your organization’s internal compliance requirements, or you can access a huge variety of benchmark lists for different industries – like HIPAA, NIST SP 800-171, or PCI DSS.

FirstWave: a leader in cybersecurity

Since 2004, FirstWave has been delivering one of the only cybersecurity solutions of its kind to global customers. Today, we’re a market leader with over 150,000 customers worldwide.

Where competitors focus on getting more customers and generating more revenue, we focus on optimizing our products and supporting our end-users. Many of the developers on our small team have been at FirstWave and in the cybersecurity industry for many years; some have even been with us since our inception. As a result our product suite is not only rich in features, but also comes with unmatched support from our dedicated team.

It doesn’t end with Open-AudIT

If you want to take your network security a step further, FirstWave helps businesses fortify their security postures with other solutions like:

• CyberCision™: Our advanced security management platform allows service providers to grow revenue by provisioning cybersecurity services at a reduced cost. CyberCision’s email security and web protection features can also help protect your organization from phishing – another key focus area of this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
• STM (Secure Traffic Manager): This intelligence-driven platform provides real-time traffic visibility and control, so you can turn off traffic from bad links and improve Quality of Service (QoS).
• NMIS (Network Management Information System): NMIS offers comprehensive network management and handles faults, performance, and configurations with ease. There are several NMIS modules that can improve your cybersecurity:
  • opConfig: Create baseline configuration rules on any device to support security protection and compliance. Change standards across devices automatically, including running super user commands, to make changes based on insights gleaned from Open-AudIT reports.
  • opEvents: Capture security events and set up custom alerts to notify you in real time. Link opEvents to opConfig to create automated actions in response to certain events.
  • opCharts: Access everything you could want to know about your network environment through a single pane of glass. Use dashboards, maps, and charts to visualize and combine multiple data sets.

Open-AudIT is used by over 130,000 organizations worldwide for good reason: No other IT auditing software can discover as much as Open-AudIT. There’s no better time than Cybersecurity Awareness Month to review and upgrade your cybersecurity posture, and by integrating Open-AudIT into your enterprise network, your business can proactively protect itself from cyberthreats.

 

Download Open-AudIT

 

Get more info on Cybersecurity Awareness Month (Australia)

By activating the Virtual Operator feature in the NMIS opConfig module, IT managers can empower their team to proactively address common network issues, ensuring optimal performance, security, and compliance.

 

The virtual operator can:

• Troubleshoot common issues automatically. No more sifting through logs or waiting for expert assistance. They can diagnose and resolve common network problems instantly.
• Always follow best practice procedures for network security. Because they follow a script that you create, compliance with industry standards and regulations is pre-defined by you, removing human error and leaving you confident in your network’s safety.
• Help your team move from reactive to proactive network management. Reduce errors, increase performance, and free up valuable time for strategic initiatives.

 

The Evolution of Network Operations – from Manual to Virtual

 

The landscape of network operations has been undergoing a radical transformation.

Traditionally, managing networks involved a predominantly manual approach, relying heavily on human expertise and intervention to address issues, configure devices, and ensure optimal performance. Human error, time-consuming processes, and the inability to scale effectively in the face of growing network complexity posed significant challenges to traditional network management practices.

In the past decade, network monitoring and management platforms have become more intelligent, with advances in big data providing greater insights into a network environment, how and when it is accessed, what devices are used and when, which services are performing optimally, and which services are degrading.

According to the Gartner Market Guide to Network Automation, while more than 65% of enterprise networking activities are performed manually across SME’s, a growing percentage of large enterprises automate more than half of their network activities.

Firstwave Cloud Technology has been at the forefront of this new era of machine intelligence, gathering and analysing network data to provide advanced anomaly detection and predictive analytics that allows operators to proactively manage infrastructure and devices to ensure a healthy and predictable network environment.

With the introduction of the Virtual Operator, this machine intelligence goes a level deeper, allowing the NMIS platform to take action on insights and allowing operators to script a series of activities that the operator can perform at the touch of a button.

This article delves more deeply into the concept of the Virtual Operator, exploring its benefits and potential impact on an organisation’s network automation strategy.  We will examine how automation, through the implementation of a Virtual Operator, is reimagining network administration, driving efficiency, enhancing security, and unlocking new levels of performance and insights.

 

What is the Virtual Operator?

 

The Virtual Operator, is a software agent designed to automate repetitive tasks, optimise network performance, and provide intelligent insights. It functions as a rule-based engine that learns from historical data, network configurations, and best practices, allowing it to make informed decisions and take proactive actions to maintain network stability and efficiency.

Think of a Virtual Operator as a highly specialised AI assistant tailored for network administration. It acts like an extension of the network team, taking on the mundane and repetitive tasks, freeing up human engineers to focus on more strategic and complex challenges.

 

Benefits of implementing a Virtual Operator

 

The implementation of a Virtual Operator offers several key benefits to network administration teams:

1. Human Resource Optimisation

By automating routine tasks, the Virtual Operator can free up engineers to focus on more strategic and complex challenges. This shift allows teams to maximise human talent, enabling them to tackle innovation, problem-solving, and the implementation of new technologies.

2. Improved Network Efficiency and Performance

The Virtual Operator in conjunction with the broader opConfig and opEvents module can continuously monitor network performance, identify potential issues, and proactively take corrective actions. This pre-emptive approach ensures optimal network performance, minimising downtime, and maximising resource utilisation.

3. Enhanced Security and Compliance

The Virtual Operator can implement and enforce security policies, detect anomalies, and respond to security threats in real-time. This automated approach strengthens network security, improves compliance with industry regulations, and reduces the risk of security breaches.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making

Virtual Operators leverage vast amounts of network data to gain valuable insights and optimise network configurations. These insights empower network teams to make informed decisions based on real-time data, leading to more effective resource allocation and network optimisation.

 

Use Case:  Managed Service Providers

 

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) often manage multiple client networks simultaneously. This can be a resource-intensive task, particularly when dealing with routine maintenance and troubleshooting. The Virtual Operator offers a solution to this challenge by automating many of the routine tasks that MSPs typically perform.

For example, a MSP can use the Virtual Operator to automate the process of applying security patches across multiple client networks. The Virtual Operator can execute the necessary commands to apply the patches, run tests to ensure that the patches have been applied correctly, and report any issues that arise. This not only reduces the workload for the MSP’s engineers but also ensures that the patches are applied consistently and without errors.

 

Use Case: Hybrid Networks

 

The Virtual Operator simplifies the management of hybrid networks by automating the tasks required to maintain connectivity and performance.

For example, the Virtual Operator can automatically adjust network configurations to optimise performance as workloads shift between on-premise and cloud environments. It can also monitor network traffic for potential issues and make adjustments in real-time to prevent disruptions. This level of automation ensures that hybrid networks operate smoothly and efficiently, even as conditions change .

 

 

How Businesses can expand their Network Automation beyond the Virtual Operator

 

The adoption of the Virtual Operator for network administration presents a key stepping stone towards the future of network automation for IT teams.  How can a business expand the effectiveness of Virtual Operator and what new developments can we expect to see as network automation technology further evolves?

1. Increased Automation and Self-Healing Networks

Use of the Virtual Operator alongside other modules such as opEvents, opTrend and Open-Audit will drive further automation in network management, eventually enabling self-healing networks that can identify and resolve issues without human intervention. This will lead to more resilient, reliable, and efficient network infrastructure.

2. Enhanced Network Intelligence and Analytics

The use of the Virtual Operator to routinely check network health will play a critical role in advancing network intelligence, enabling teams to gain deeper insights into network performance, security threats, and user behaviour. This will empower teams to make more informed decisions and proactively optimise their networks.

3. Evolution of Network Administration Roles

Eventually, the use of network automation tools such as the Virtual Operator will transform the role of network administrators and engineers, shifting their focus from routine tasks to more strategic and creative activities. They will become more involved in AI model development and instructional writing, data analysis, and the design of intelligent network solutions.

 

Conclusion

 

The Virtual Operator represents a significant step forward in network automation, leveraging the power of AI to enhance network performance, optimise operations, and free up human resources for more strategic tasks. As AI and automation continue to advance, features like the Virtual Operator will play an increasingly crucial role in enabling more intelligent, efficient, and resilient network infrastructure.

 

 

Reference:

Gartner 2023 Market Guide to Network Automation

https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4913231

 

Download Open-AudIT

Visit our website to download the latest version. Select the Linux or Windows option, and download the binary.

Open-AudIT is installed on-premises. You can also use the FirstWave Virtual Machine if you prefer, and get all the FirstWave monitoring applications installed and ready to use.

How to install for Windows

Prerequisites

• For Windows, the following distributions are supported (64-bit only):
  • Windows Server 2016 and up.
• If you don’t already have NMAP, go to nmap.org to download the latest NMAP binary. Right-click the downloaded .exe file, select Run as Administrator, and run the installation wizard with default installation settings applied.
• If you don’t already have it, install the latest Visual C runtime.
• Windows 10 and 11 are not supported for Open-AudIT Server (they are fine as discovered machines).

Installing for SUSE? Get installation details here.

Claim your free licenses

• Open your web browser, navigate to http://YOUR_SERVER/open-audit/, and log in.
• Fill out the form at http://YOUR_SERVER/open-audit/index.php/configuration/license_string to activate your free 100-device Professional license.

Add your credentials

Open-AudIT can handle a variety of credential types, including the standard SNMP, Windows, and SSH types.

• In the Open-AudIT dashboard, navigate to Discover > Credentials > Create Credentials.
• Add your credential details and click Submit.
• Repeat this process as many times as needed to add your desired device credentials to Open-AudIT.

If you don’t have the credentials for a device on your network you will still see the device in Open-AudIT, but data retrieval will be limited.

Now, you can add a discovery!

Start discovering

• From the Open-AudIT dashboard, navigate to Discover > Discoveries > Create Discoveries.
• Add a name and the subnet for your discovery. Typically most users use a /24 network ,e.g. 192.168.1.0/24.
• Click the Execute button on the discovery details page.
• Click the Refresh button at any time to update the logs as the discovery progresses.
• Repeat this process as many times as needed to add all desired discoveries.
• On the Discoveries dashboard, you’ll now see all your listed devices. To view detailed information on a discovered device, navigate to Manage > Devices > List Devices.
• Click the eye icon under the Details column for any device to explore the extensive data Open-AudIT has collected for it.

After adding your credentials and running your discoveries, you’ll notice your home dashboard now displays a variety of charts that give you deeper insights into your network.

Done!

Want a visual run-through? You can watch the entire process in more detail below.

Happy discovering!

Learn more about Open-AudIT

Open-AudIT YouTube playlist

Open-AudIT Community Wiki

Chat to our Support team

In managing computer networks, keeping services running and minimizing disruptions is crucial. One important way to measure how well network managers and operators handle problems is through Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR).

So, What is Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)?

MTTR is a key performance indicator used in network management to quantify the average time it takes to resolve a network issue or outage from the moment it is detected.

 

This metric encompasses the entire process, from initial problem identification (when a device such as a router, switch, or server goes down or starts experiencing issues) through to the restoration of normal service. MTTR is calculated by taking the total time spent on resolving all incidents within a specific period and dividing it by the number of incidents.

 

 

In simpler terms, MTTR provides a clear picture of how long your network is out of action during a typical incident and how quickly your team can bring everything back to normal. It’s a reflection of the efficiency and effectiveness of your incident response processes.

Why MTTR Matters for Network Managers and Operators

MTTR is more than a mere number; it serves as a direct indicator of the health of your network management practices. Here’s why it’s so crucial:

1. Minimizing Downtime: Networks are the backbone of any organization, and every minute of network downtime can result in lost productivity, customer dissatisfaction, and revenue loss. MTTR helps network managers understand how quickly they can respond to and resolve issues, thus minimizing downtime and its associated impacts.
2. Operational Efficiency: A lower MTTR indicates a streamlined, efficient response process. It reflects well on the team’s capability to detect, diagnose, and fix issues quickly. This significantly enhances the network’s reliability, instilling a heightened level of confidence and bolstering the team’s reputation within the organization.
3. Customer Satisfaction (this is the most imporant one): In today’s fast-paced digital environment, customers expect near-instantaneous service. A quick resolution time keeps customers happy by ensuring that disruptions are brief and service is restored promptly.
4. Resource Management: MTTR can also help in assessing how effectively resources are being used during incident response. A consistently high MTTR might indicate bottlenecks or inefficiencies that need to be addressed, such as outdated tools or a lack of adequate training for the team.

What is a Good MTTR?

The definition of a “good” MTTR can vary depending on the industry, the complexity of the network, and the nature of the incidents. However, there are some general benchmarks that network managers can consider:

• Industry Standards: In many industries, a good MTTR is typically under 4 hours. However, for high-stakes environments, such as financial services or healthcare, MTTR might need to be even lower, often measured in minutes.
• Historical Performance: Your historical data is a great baseline. If your average MTTR has been 6 hours, bringing it down to 4 hours could be a significant improvement. The key is consistent improvement over time.
• SLAs and Customer Expectations: Service Level Agreements (SLAs) often dictate the acceptable MTTR for your organization. These agreements are usually based on customer expectations, which can vary greatly. Meeting or exceeding these SLAs should be the target.
• Comparative Analysis: Look at similar organizations within your industry. Benchmarking against peers can provide insight into where your MTTR stands and what might be achievable.

Conclusion

MTTR stands as a critical measure that network managers and operators need to monitor and improve. It acts as a clear signal of how rapidly your team can recover from network issues, affecting everything from operational efficiency to customer satisfaction. By aiming for a reduced MTTR, network teams are not only able to improve their service reliability but also bolster their overall network management approach. Ultimately, a successful MTTR is one that meets or surpasses your organization’s and its customers’ expectations, while continually striving for quicker and more effective resolutions.