Network segmentation is a network security tool that divides a network into different network segments, each of which is a self-contained network. Network segmentation allows a company's specialists to control the flow of data between network segments according to company policies.

Organizations often use segmentation to improve network security, improve monitoring, improve network performance, and uncover vulnerabilities.

Introduction to Network Segmentation

Network segmentation is an organizational means of dividing a company's network into segments or subnets. Each network segment and subnet is a self-contained network. This can help network administrators track data flow between different network segments according to the needs of the company.

Network segmentation is a tool that can help improve monitoring, improve performance, and improve the network security needs of enterprises. Network segmentation prevents unauthorized users and only allows companies to access valuable customer information.

Seven steps to segment your network

1. Identify the most valuable assets and data

Data and company assets are driving business value and growth.

Companies should analyze their networks to see which data and assets need the strongest protection. Valuable assets might include customer databases or employee information. To determine how to value data, there are three factors:

Growth: Observing data growth over time can help uncover patterns in current and future data.

Returns: If the asset is related to customer data, trust and money are important parts to consider.

Risk: The risk of losing data needs to be considered, which helps to find the right way to partition valuable data.

2. Classify assets with tags

Tagging assets by high, medium, or low importance helps companies identify and prioritize where they should focus their cybersecurity efforts. To determine value, companies must consider confidentiality:

While not all data and assets have such confidentiality, this is a useful way to start labeling. These labels will define trust and protection in the network.

3. Detect network and data flow, and draw a graph

To detect and map network and data flows, companies should use tags to examine each step of a departmental network to identify underlying data and network flows.

When mapping data and networks, experts should pay attention to how data flows, how it travels, and the methods companies use.

Industry experts recommend auditing all data flows for:

Northbound traffic refers to the data flow leaving the corporate network.

East-west traffic refers to the flow of data transmitted between systems in the network boundary.

Southbound traffic refers to the data flow entering the company network segment.

Network segmentation divides the network into different network segments, thereby improving network security.

4. Determine how the company wants to segment the network

Once the network and data flows are collected, the company must determine how to segment the network. While firewalls are often an option for companies, they are not the only form of network segmentation:

Switches are the second most common method of segmenting a network. Companies often use switches internally and firewalls when dividing the network.

The air gap helps segment the two network connections distributed through the two internet providers.

Analog phone lines are an offline way to segment the network. With analog phone lines deployed and configured, there is no risk of network intrusion.

A Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a broadcast domain that provides partitioning and isolation within a network and enables network design when deployed.

Point-to-point encryption is another way to segment the network, but it also eliminates any need for segmentation.

5. Deploy network traffic segmentation gateway

Segment boundaries must be done quickly to control access within each segment. All network segments require access control. In order to have segment boundaries, all network traffic entering and leaving a segment must pass through a gateway.

“When deployed properly, both segment boundaries and access control provide a flexible way to enforce network segmentation and, as they travel across network segments, traffic can be dynamically directed to application-aware Firewall."

6. Develop a company-wide access control policy

A company-wide access control policy is critical, as cybercriminals or rogue employees may have unrestricted access.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) states: "Access control policy is a high-level requirement that specifies how access is governed and who can access information under what circumstances."

Company-wide access control policies should be determined based on the principle of least privilege, using whatever applications or devices employees may have and need to do their jobs.

7. Perform audits and audits, and automate your network

After you deploy the segment gateway and create your corporate access control policies, you can build the segment gateway. Defining network segmentation policies does need to change as the corporate network changes.

Due to frequent changes, companies need to perform audits and audits and monitor the network, but this will also help the company understand if any risks or errors have occurred.

Network segmentation testing can be a network security audit, penetration testing, vulnerability scanning and risk assessment.

Protect Your Company with Network Segmentation

Being able to separate network segments helps prevent data breaches large and small. As a company grows or changes, the corporate network must handle massive amounts of traffic.

Network segmentation provides accessibility, better performance, and helps secure the entire company.