The Importance of Prevention in Network Security

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The adage ‘Prevention is better than cure’ holds true for all aspects of life and human activity. Thus, prevention is of great importance as regards network security as well.

We do have the know-how today to set things right, as much as is practically possible, once a network has been hacked. But, ask experts and they would all agree on this one thing, that in network security prevention is of utmost importance, always. Reasons are evident. There are things that can’t be set right. There are losses that are irreparable.

Network Security

The key aspects of prevention

There are lots of things that need to be done- the basic steps we may say- for prevention. These do get discussed almost everywhere. Here let’s focus on what the basic aspects of prevention are, as regard network security.

Planning

For anything to be executed effectively, especially in an organizational set-up, basic planning is one of the preliminary requisites. If planned well, it can be understood that there are lots of things that would indeed work out better than it had seemed at the outset. Sometimes, though it may seem that new technology is needed to fix old problems, better planning would reveal that most of them (or sometimes all of them) could be fixed by using existing capabilities. Similarly, there are lots of things that can be set right with simple network tweaks and changes. Thus planning things at the outset and bringing the networking team into security discussions would be of key importance as regards prevention.

Education

It’s very important for networking professionals to be having real good knowledge as regards network security. There should be attempts to systematically and properly educate professionals on all aspects of network security; no aspect should be left vague. There should also be an attempt to make everyone understand that times are changing and hence security is not just about sticking on to traditional technologies. Attempting a shift in approaches and perceptions too may be needed.

Empowerment of network engineers

Network engineers today need to be thoroughly involved in the network security process. Hence empowering them to play meaningful roles in their organization’s security strategies is of prime importance.