End-to-End Network Security: Defense-in-Depth

Defense-in-Depth

Best practices for assessing and improving network defenses and responding to security incidents

Omar Santos

Information security practices have evolved from Internet perimeter protection to an in-depth defense model in which multiple countermeasures are layered throughout the infrastructure to address vulnerabilities and attacks. This is necessary due to increased attack frequency, diverse attack sophistication, and the rapid nature of attack velocity—all blurring the boundaries between the network and perimeter.

End-to-End Network Security is designed to counter the new generation of complex threats. Adopting this robust security strategy defends against highly sophisticated attacks that can occur at multiple locations in your network. The ultimate goal is to deploy a set of security capabilities that together create an intelligent, self-defending network that identifies attacks as they occur, generates alerts as appropriate, and then automatically responds.

End-to-End Network Security provides you with a comprehensive look at the mechanisms to counter threats to each part of your network. The book starts with a review of network security technologies then covers the six-step methodology for incident response and best practices from proactive security frameworks. Later chapters cover wireless network security, IP telephony security, data center security, and IPv6 security. Finally, several case studies representing small, medium, and large enterprises provide detailed example configurations and implementation strategies of best practices learned in earlier chapters.

Adopting the techniques and strategies outlined in this book enables you to prevent day-zero attacks, improve your overall security posture, build strong policies, and deploy intelligent, self-defending networks.

“Within these pages, you will find many practical tools, both process related and technology related, that you can draw on to improve your risk mitigation strategies.”

—Bruce Murphy, Vice President, World Wide Security Practices, Cisco

Omar Santos is a senior network security engineer at Cisco®. Omar has designed, implemented, and supported numerous secure networks for Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. government. Prior to his current role, he was a technical leader within the World Wide Security Practice and the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC), where he taught, led, and mentored many engineers within both organizations.

• Guard your network with firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion prevention systems
• Control network access with AAA
• Enforce security policies with Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC)
• Learn how to perform risk and threat analysis
• Harden your network infrastructure, security policies, and procedures against security threats
• Identify and classify security threats
• Trace back attacks to their source
• Learn how to best react to security incidents
• Maintain visibility and control over your network with the SAVE framework
• Apply Defense-in-Depth principles to wireless networks, IP telephony networks, data centers, and IPv6 networks

This security book is part of the Cisco Press® Networking Technology Series. Security titles from Cisco Press help networking professionals secure critical data and resources, prevent and mitigate network attacks, and build end-to-end self-defending networks.

Category: Networking: Security

Covers: Network security and incident response