NetworkSecurity

Network security is the practice of protecting computer networks and the data they carry from unauthorized access, misuse, malfunction, modification, or denial of service. It encompasses policies, procedures, and technologies designed to guard networked devices, services, and information across local and wide area networks, wireless connections, and cloud environments.

Core components include access control, authentication and authorization; encryption for data in transit; firewalls and intrusion detection or prevention systems; secure configuration management; vulnerability and patch management; network segmentation; and continuous monitoring with logging and alerting.

Common threats include eavesdropping, spoofing, man-in-the-middle attacks, replay attacks, malware, ransomware, botnets, denial-of-service events, and phishing that targets network credentials. Attack surfaces span endpoints, network devices, cloud services, and misconfigurations.

Defensive strategies emphasize defense in depth, least privilege, strong authentication, encryption in transit and at rest, virtual private networks, secure protocols such as TLS and IPsec, web application firewalls, IDS/IPS, and regular patching, backups, and incident response planning.

Standards and best practices are described in frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST SP 800-53, and the CIS Controls. Trends include zero-trust architectures, software-defined networking, cloud security, and automated security analytics to support security operations centers.