Every attack leaves a trail across the network, from initial reconnaissance to lateral movement and data exfiltration. Because the network connects every user, device, application, and workload, it is also the natural place to verify identity, apply consistent policy, and contain activity close to its source. The result is faster detection, stronger enforcement, and a smaller blast radius.
Integrated network security takes security functions that traditionally sat outside the network and embeds them directly into the network fabric to simplify and sharpen protection in the enterprise. Routers, switches, and access points become cybersecurity defenders that identify and prevent threats rather than routing and filtering traffic.
Enterprises face a gap as the network perimeter dissolves.
Bolting more security tools onto your infrastructure to protect those assets isn't sustainable. Coordination is slow and difficult, hindering the security effort and driving up costs.
Unifying security and networking together offers several benefits:.
Building security directly into the network itself lets you encode a standard approach that works everywhere across the organization and covers everything that connects to the network.
Being able to carry out and change policies centrally that ripple throughout the organization means that you can adapt to this fast-changing security landscape.
Some zero-trust security measures also belong in the network. Network-based security also supports security for other disciplines such as SASE and SD-WAN.
Having a common fabric for networking and security enables network and security teams to work closely together.
AI is important in two ways when integrating security into the network.