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July 28, 2020

Living on the Network Edge: Security

By Alik Fishman, Director of Product Management, Marvell

In our series Living on the Network Edge, we have looked at the trends driving Intelligence, Performance and Telemetry to the network edge. In this installment, let’s look at the changing role of network security and the ways integrating security capabilities in network access can assist in effectively streamlining policy enforcement, protection, and remediation across the infrastructure.

Cybersecurity threats are now a daily struggle for businesses experiencing a huge increase in hacked and breached data from sources increasingly common in the workplace like mobile and IoT devices. Not only are the number of security breaches going up, they are also increasing in severity and duration, with the average lifecycle from breach to containment lasting nearly a year1 and presenting expensive operational challenges. With the digital transformation and emerging technology landscape (remote access, cloud-native models, proliferation of IoT devices, etc.) dramatically impacting networking architectures and operations, new security risks are introduced. To address this, enterprise infrastructure is on the verge of a remarkable change, elevating network intelligence, performance, visibility and security2.

COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for accelerating digital transformation - as companies with greater digital presences show more resiliency3. The workforce is expected to transform post-COVID-19 with 20-45%4 becoming distributed and working remotely, either from home or from smaller distributed office spaces. The change in the working environment and accelerated migration to hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud drives a new normal, and the borderless enterprise is now a reality - driving network infrastructure to add end-to-end management, automation and security functionalities needed to support businesses in this new digital era. As mobility and cloud applications extend traditional boundaries and this borderless enterprise becomes increasingly vulnerable, a broader attack surface is no longer contained within well-defined and defended perimeters. Cracks are showing. Remote workers’ identities and devices are the new security perimeter with 70% of all breaches originating at endpoints, according to IDC research5.

This is where embedded security in network access provides essential frontline protection from malicious attacks entry points by enforcing zero-trust access policies. No traffic is trusted from the outset, and the traffic isn’t in the clear within networking devices throughout the infrastructure. Network telemetry and integrated security safeguards capable of inspecting workloads at line-rate team up with security appliances and AI-analytic tools to intelligently flag suspicious traffic and rapidly detect threats. Segmentation of security zones and agile group policy enforcement limits areas of exposure, prevents lateral movement, and enables quick remediation. IEEE 802.1AE MACSec encryption on all ports secure data throughout the network and prevent intrusion. Monitoring control protocol exceptions and activating rate limiters add layers of protection to control and management planes, preventing DDOS attacks. Integrated secure boot and secured storage provide the protection from counterfeit attempts to compromise network hardware and software.

Cybersecurity is now the dominate priorities of every organization, as each adapts to a post-COVID 19 world. Network-embedded security is on the rise to become a powerful ally in fighting the battle against ever evolving security threats. In this dynamic world, what can your network do to secure your assets?

Living on the Network Edge

What steps are you taking to bolster your network for living on the edge? Telemetry, Intelligence, Performance and Security are critical technologies for the growing borderless campus as mobility and cloud applications proliferate and drive networking functions. Learn more at: https://www.marvell.com/solutions/enterprise.html.

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1 https://www.varonis.com/blog/cybersecurity-statistics
2 Cisco 2019 Global Networking Trends Survey
3 Morgan Stanley, 2Q20 CIO Survey: IT Hardware Takeaways
4 Dell’Oro Group Ethernet Switch – Campus five-year forecast, 2020-2024
5 Forbes 2020 Roundup Of Cybersecurity Forecasts And Market Estimates

Tags: 5g, Data infrastructure, Edge processing, Enterprise networking, Mobility, Multi-Gigabit Ethernet, Network connectivity, Network edge, Network intelligence, Networking, secure infrastructure

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