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International standard or ISO 27001 certification is helping organizations to better understand network and security area administration. It also defines models for increasing network and security resilience and other features.

To begin with, the network infrastructure has become more and more important for many organizations. Hence, nothing is more valuable than data being transferred between the systems or stored within the secured perimeter. That's why the information security standard should be incorporated by anyone who aims to keep the data well protected.

ISO 27001 certification helps to secure networks.

Furthermore, any value created in the digital world automatically attracts those who intend capturing the value without any necessary permission. It can be a hacker or medium-skilled student with malicious intent. But it's not important who desires to access your data or why. Without following any security best practices, you are out in the open.

In addition, our previous post related to security audits automation, provides other relevant information to ISO 27001 certification . Further, in this article we will focus on how the IP Fabric platform can assist with network security management. Hence, bringing benefits to everyday operations.

Define information security risks

"ISO/IEC 27001 formally specifies an Information Security Management System (ISMS), a suite of activities concerning the management of information risks (called ‘information security risks’ in the standard). The ISMS is an overarching management framework through which the organization identifies, analyzes and addresses its information risks."
From https://www.iso27001security.com/html/27001.html

The definition above perfectly describes the starting point for further security practices development in ISO 27001 certification. However, to proceed with the next steps of the standardization, the company needs to be aware of all infrastructure elements.

The infrastructure elements may include all active network devices (routers, switches, firewalls, load-balancers, etc.). Furthermore, a full inventory of end-points (virtual or physical servers) communicating on the network or entry points to the network. These are available physical interfaces, wireless access points and more. To summarize the point, an up-to-date detailed inventory is the most important factor for any enablement.

For the IP Fabric platform, the full and up-to-date inventory of any elements on the network is an easy task. It provides its users with complete visibility with multiple views and end-of-life information, with automated protocol level diagrams fresh every day. Apart from that, all data is easily exportable manually or by any integrated system via API.

ISO 27002 - the code of security practice

"It recommends information security controls addressing information security control objectives arising from risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Organizations that adopt ISO/IEC 27002 must assess their own information risks, clarify their control objectives and apply suitable controls (or indeed other forms of risk treatment) using the standard for guidance."
From https://www.iso27001security.com/html/27002.html

The definition above relates to mapping existing information flows across routed or switched networks with clear security objectives. Firewalls with properly configured security policies are the key components in building secure networks and preventing unwanted access.

However as the network grows in complexity, more teams participate in network security policies administration. As a result, the restrictive rules may be violated with unauthorized or temporary changes on firewalls or access-lists.

End-to-End path verification with IP Fabric platform
Continuous End-to-End path verification with IP Fabric platform

The best approach to a stable security environment that meets the high standards is continuous security policies and end-to-end path verifications. With the IP Fabric platform, users are provided with the tool that can help with both. The platform reads and stores all security policies from selected vendors, it can immediately detect changes and provide historical data. Besides with the end-to-end path testing feature available, it can store hundreds of defined path checks, that are being continuously verified with every new network snapshot.

Keep the network management compliant

The network management misconfigurations are maybe one of the most discovered with the IP Fabric tool at the first run. What we often detect with automated verifications is legacy Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) configurations, old TACACS+ or RADIUS servers left in or outdated access-lists (ACL) applied to management interfaces.
The operations security is clearly described in Section 12 in ISO 27002 and is essential to any environment compliant with the standard.

IP Fabric's Network Assurance Dashboard
IP Fabric's Network Assurance Dashboard

If you have found this article resourceful, please follow our company’s LinkedIn or Blog, where there will be more content emerging. Furthermore, if you would like to test our platform to observe how it can assist you in more efficiently managing your network, please write us through our web page www.ipfabric.io

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