By Narayan Annamalai
When cybersecurity measures fail, the consequences can be devastating and costly. Last year, network security failures led to downed websites, delayed flights, unavailable video games, and more. Such incidents can destroy the trust of customers, investors, and board members and result in the types of headlines you don’t want. Technological challenges and the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks are prompting conversation—and understandable concern—across the industry. CISOs and other C-Suite members, as well as security professionals, recognize how increasing cloud adoption and the shift toward hybrid work is expanding the attack surface. Other leaders also discussed the challenges represented by the dynamic and complex regulatory landscape.
Consider these security statistics:
Your network is the heart of your organization—and a tempting prize for bad actors. Network security puts controls in place to help prevent cybercriminals from breaching it. Let’s check how.
Protecting your data and assets
Cloud network security can keep up with modern cybersecurity threats in a way that conventional security tools cannot. It can secure data and applications critical to supporting hybrid workers in cloud environments. And it enables you to protect organizational assets from emerging attacks and secure apps and infrastructure.
Cloud network security is important because all assets are accessible over a network. Here are the main components of effective cloud network security:
- Zero Trust Method: Zero Trust means using least privilege access to limit user access, constant identity authentication, and minimizing blast radius and share access by claiming one security breach. It helps you manage people, devices, data, and assets so you can create a hybrid workforce, protect sensitive information, and manage multicloud assets with confidence.
- Network firewall: A network firewall helps prevent cybercriminals from accessing your network resources by monitoring and inspecting your network traffic and blocking malicious traffic.
- DDoS protection: Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks involve cybercriminals targeting a website or service by flooding it with traffic to disrupt network services. DDoS protection typically provides monitoring, attack mitigation, and other features as defenses.
- Web application protection: Web applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) are popular targets for cybercriminals, as they are accessible on the public internet and may provide access to sensitive data. Web application protection helps protect websites, applications, and APIs from attacks.
Network security works
Manufacturers generate large amounts of sensitive data, including intellectual property and research and development data. The IoT devices they use are highly targeted by DDoS attacks. And their supply chains are often targets as well.
Manufacturers may be more willing than other sectors to pay criminal ransoms because of the sensitivity of their data and reliance on the supply chain to receive product components and ship their products. Attacks targeting the supply chain can bring operations to a halt.
Let’s look at a common use case in manufacturing—securely connected insights, which can be used for theft prevention, loss monitoring, warehouse optimization, and city-wide traffic flow insights. or in a retail environment to automate stock replenishment. Manufacturers can monitor activities on their warehouse floors, assembly lines, production, and distribution in real time through a connected factory setup.
With machine learning and computing technologies for mission critical analytics, manufacturers and other industries need cloud network security to ensure data is safe and minimize disruption. It secures your apps and network infrastructure against threats. The benefits of using network security include reducing security threats, improving operational efficiency, and increasing business agility.
Cloud network security services, such as Azure Network Security, paired with Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines powered by AMD, ensure you can provide secure connected insights efficiently. Features include:
- Operational scalability to increase warehouse efficiency
- Faster resolution of the issue of tracking products throughout the value chain
- Better safety and quality control
- On-time delivery of goods and services
Protect against modern threats
Cyber threats continue to challenge traditional security methods. Modern network security can answer the call using a Zero Trust approach, network firewall, DDoS protection, and web application protection.
Microsoft and AMD share the goal of prioritizing network security services — completely secure modern network protection for Azure workloads. Network security can help you protect your people, data, and operations in any sector.
Narayan Annamalai leads the SDN product management group at Microsoft Azure focusing on virtual networks, load balancing and network security.
Learn how AMD helps accelerate Azure workloads and how Azure Network Security helps your organization protect your data and assets.
