Outages leave warning signs before users notice. The outage never instantly. Prior to a problem, the infrastructure always gives some hints:
- Traffic pattern changes.
- Interface starts dropping packets.
- CPU utilization increases.
- Some device generates an event.
- Systems interaction changes.
The problem usually is not in collecting those hints. The problem is in seeing those changes, understanding their interconnection and providing context to act on them.This is where visibility comes into play within cybersecurity.
Security Alerts Aren’t the Whole Story
Firewalls, EDRs, SIEM systems, vulnerability scanners, identity controls and so forth, these all are the security technologies. And in addition to all that, there is a need for visibility into the infrastructure carrying the traffic and running the applications.
A device may stay technically online but its behavior may change a lot.
- A switch may start experiencing CPU utilization issues.
- A server may start generating traffic.
- An interface may accumulate errors.
- A network device may start reporting lots of system events.
Each of those issues may have a legitimate explanation individually. All together, those things may need an investigation but without visibility into the infrastructure, the engineers usually detect such problems only when their users start experiencing consequences. At that time, the damage has already been done to the infrastructure.
Here the Network Management and Supervision System (NMS) comes into play. The NMS is constantly observing the infrastructure and bringing all operational data into a single point.
For engineers, it means answering the key questions:
- What is connected?
- Is it healthy?
- What is changing?
- Which systems are involved?
- How is the problem spreading throughout the network?
ArkayNMS is built on the top of the visibility concept. It is constantly monitoring the network infrastructure, collecting the telemetry data, detecting the conditions and critical events and providing engineers with the necessary context. Let us call it a pair of eyes for the engineering team which keeps watching the infrastructure all the time.
A traditional network monitoring system usually starts with the following question:
Is the device up?? and Is the device behaving normally?
A device may be UP and at the same time exhibit signs of something changed.
- CPU utilization may be increasing.
- Memory consumption may be abnormal.
- Interface errors may be rising.
- Traffic volume may be significantly different from usual patterns.
- Device-generated events may appear quite frequently.
But none of these symptoms automatically means a cyberattack and this is the important difference!
- A traffic increase may be just an operation.
- High CPU utilization might have been triggered by a deployment.
- Interface errors may hint at a configuration issue.
When the behavior of the infrastructure changes, moving away from the normal patterns, the engineer gets something real to investigate. And that is exactly the task of network visibility in the cybersecurity area. Not declaration of a problem but providing the engineer with the evidence and context for investigation of a potential problem.
Visibility Is About Connecting the Dots
One metric rarely tells the full story. A CPU spike, traffic increase, or interface error may be harmless on its own. The real insight comes from seeing these signals together and understanding what changed, what happened alongside it, and whether the behavior is unusual. Historical data adds another layer of context by showing engineers what normal looks like and whether a change is isolated or becoming a pattern.
This turns monitoring data from a collection of numbers into evidence engineers can act on. Not more alerts but better context, for better decisions!
The Engine Behind Visibility
The visibility becomes efficient by looking at the network from the side of operational data sources. The core backbone of visibility lies on the following principles:
SNMP
SNMP protocol provides the telemetry data from the network devices with such parameters as CPU utilization, memory consumption, interface stats, uptime and other infrastructure health metrics. The historical telemetry data gives a valuable context to the engineers. Instead of seeing a single high CPU utilization, the engineer will know whether that situation is normal, unusual, growing or becoming a trend.
Syslog
The network devices are constantly generating various events. Configuration changes, interface transitions, authentication events, system condition and other messages may become a useful source of information during an investigation. Collecting those events in a centralized location makes them easier to correlate with the infrastructure behavior.
SNMP Traps
Sometimes events shouldn’t have to wait for the poll cycle. SNMP traps allow the devices to notify the engineer about predefined events and alarms, providing visibility into the changes going on in the network.
Flow Monitoring
The metrics such as NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow bring an additional layer of visibility. They help to answer the question Where is the traffic? How is the behavior changing? That context becomes super useful for investigation of the traffic patterns or unexpected systems interaction.
Network Topology
Simply put it is network is a system of connections. A device never works in isolation. The topology visibility may help the engineer to understand how the routers, switches, firewalls, servers and other parts of infrastructure are connected. And in case of any changes, this connection may become very important. It may help the engineer to understand what else may become affected next.
From Monitoring Data to Engineering Action
Visibility only becomes valuable when it helps an engineer do something with the information. An engineer may investigate the affected interface, compare current traffic with historical patterns, check recent device events, examine neighboring devices or review the topology around the affected system. The point here is not in the ability of NMS to predict the attack. The point is in awareness for quick decision.
The next step depends on what the data reveals. It may lead to a configuration correction, capacity planning, hardware troubleshooting, investigation of unexpected communication, or simply confirm that the behavior was expected. That is why context matters.
The monitoring system provides the information. The engineer provides the judgment.
The more complete the picture, the less time engineers need to spend searching for basic facts before beginning the actual investigation.
ArkayNMS Works Alongside the Engineer, Not Instead of Him
Network monitoring is not a replacement for dedicated security technologies. ArkayNMS does not determine that a CPU spike is malware, assume that unusual traffic is an attack, or replace SIEM, EDR, firewalls, or security operations teams. Final decision is of Network Engineer. ArkayNMS is a helping hand and it empowers your Engineering team.
ArkayNMS provides network-level visibility and operational context to support detection, investigation, and response. It continuously monitors the infrastructure, gathers network telemetry, detects behavioral changes and critical events, and helps engineers understand the conditions surrounding an incident.
The Engineer Makes the decision and this point is crucial because the purpose of automation is not to take the engineer out of the loop. It is to provide the engineer with more data sooner.
ArkayNMS continuously monitors your network infrastructure, detects behavioral changes and critical events, and gives IT teams the visibility to investigate potential security incidents before they become outages.
Better Visibility. Better Decisions.
Cybersecurity starts with understanding the infrastructure, not just responding to security alerts. Knowing what is connected, what is normal, and when behavior changes gives engineers the context to investigate potential problems before they become operational issues.
The next time everything looks normal, look closer. The network may already be telling you what is about to change.
Leave a Reply