The network security tools to combat modern threats

Study after study shows the number of cybersecurity threats is just about spiraling out of control. One may think the massive uptick in threats means the sophistication of individual attacks would be on the decline. That's not the case, however, as attacks are more intelligent and more targeted than ever.

Compounding the issue for enterprises, corporate network infrastructures are becoming more challenging to secure than ever before. The distributed nature of remote offices, employees and cloud-deployed resources means IT security professionals must integrate multiple layers of security from end to end as opposed to only focusing on securing the network edge.

Add in the advancement of IoT projects, and the issue only gets worse. Hundreds or even thousands of autonomous -- and often insecure -- IoT devices connecting to corporate systems creates a situation where more network visibility is required in order to limit the risk of breaches due to IoT and network devices. Attaining and maintaining this visibility is a challenge many enterprises have yet to conquer.

It's foolish to assume IT security teams can manage expanding and sophisticating threats, while, at the same time, managing the growing attack surface with manual processes and the same old security tools in place today in many organizations. It's time to look at how new tools can be employed to make the task more manageable.

Many security admins are looking to automation and AI to eliminate time-consuming processes, opening time for admins to investigate and look further into threats where necessary. Such next-generation security tools can automatically identify vulnerabilities and create new security controls to protect users, apps and data from emerging threats. AI and machine learning capabilities can be integrated into firewalls, AIOps, behavioral analytics, endpoint protection, and web and email security, as well as next-gen penetration testing software.

Synchronization of threat data across multiple security tools is another way IT security teams can stay ahead of emerging threats. One way to achieve this is to use API hooks integrated into security tools. This enables faster propagation of new security defense controls across the entire network.