Today, with chaotic interconnections among the many zones of a network, external threats are as frequent as internal ones. Network security deals with fundamental issues such as corporate reputation, information integrity and the ability to confidently operate businesses that rely on networks to survive. Unfortunately, I find that four security myths still prevail among boards of directors, CEOs and CIOs. The myths heighten the threats to network security because they reflect attitudes that inhibit effective approaches to detecting and preventing intrusion. As the intrusion into Microsoft's networks last year proved, computer networks and telecommunications systems are not 100 percent secure, nor can they ever be.
Network security is an environment of attack identification and defense.
Defense involves constant monitoring, parrying attacks, predicting the source of the next attack, correlating suspicious events, understanding intruders and then taking proactive steps to establish a secure network environment. Information security is a process that must become part of your business model. Companies that spend large amounts of money to protect against outside attacks without ensuring corresponding protection against inside attacks are half-protected. Today, the ratio is about even, but the total number of attacks has increased internally and externally as the availability of automated attack tools has increased. Single-point security products provide a false sense of security.