What are the best practices for network security monitoring in a remote work scenario?

1 Define your scope and objectives

Before you start monitoring your network, you need to define your scope and objectives. What are the critical assets and data that you need to protect? What are the possible threats and risks that you face? What are the compliance and regulatory requirements that you need to follow? How will you measure and report your network security performance and incidents? By answering these questions, you can establish a clear and realistic scope and objectives for your network security monitoring.

2 Choose your tools and methods

The next step is to choose your tools and methods for network security monitoring. There are different types of tools and methods available, such as network traffic analysis, network flow analysis, network anomaly detection, network intrusion detection and prevention, network forensics, and network security audits. You need to select the tools and methods that suit your needs, budget, and capabilities. You also need to consider the compatibility and integration of your tools and methods with your existing network infrastructure and security systems.

3 Implement a baseline and a policy

Once you have your tools and methods, you need to implement a baseline and a policy for your network security monitoring. A baseline is a snapshot of your normal network activity and behavior that you can use as a reference point for detecting anomalies and deviations. A policy is a set of rules and guidelines that define your network security standards and expectations, as well as your roles and responsibilities for network security monitoring. You need to create and update your baseline and policy regularly to reflect your changing network environment and security needs.

4 Monitor and analyze your network

The core of network security monitoring is to monitor and analyze your network activity and events. You need to collect and store your network data from various sources, such as routers, switches, firewalls, servers, endpoints, and applications. You also need to analyze your network data using your tools and methods to identify any suspicious or malicious patterns, trends, or incidents. You need to use both automated and manual techniques to monitor and analyze your network data, as well as apply your baseline and policy to filter out false positives and irrelevant noise.

5 Respond and improve your network security

The final step is to respond and improve your network security based on your monitoring and analysis results. You need to have a clear and effective incident response plan that outlines how you will handle and resolve any network security issues or breaches. You also need to have a continuous improvement process that involves reviewing and evaluating your network security performance and incidents, as well as learning from your mistakes and feedback. You need to update and optimize your tools, methods, baseline, policy, and plan accordingly to enhance your network security monitoring capabilities and outcomes.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?