Network Security Assessments

What Is a Network Security Assessment? 

Reviewed by Chris Rodgers, PlexTrac Cyber Swiss Army Knife

In a world of constantly evolving tactics and strategies employed by nefarious actors, the impact of constant network security assessment cannot be overemphasized. Without these network security assessments, falling victim to a compromised network is quite challenging if not impossible to avoid. 

Implementing the security practice of regular network assessment helps businesses identify vulnerabilities in their systems before outsiders do. It then provides them with the best measures to take to avoid any compromise, thereby strengthening the security and resilience of an organization’s network infrastructure.

What Is a Network Security Assessment?

A network security assessment is an audit designed to find vulnerabilities that are at risk of being compromised in your network. These vulnerabilities could cause harm to business operations and leak sensitive and confidential information, which will cost you further time and money. Network vulnerabilities come in many different forms and are constantly changing as technology evolves and improves.

Generally, vulnerabilities can be grouped into three unique categories: internal, external, and social. Regularly conducting network security assessments is a crucially important activity for your cybersecurity team and should consistently remain one of the top priorities for your organization.

Why Are Network Security Assessments Important?

Network security assessments are important because they illuminate network deficiencies in a way that is both educational and extremely valuable for your business. All organizations with a network are at consistent risk for compromise. Most organizations have numerous vulnerabilities that would otherwise go unidentified without a network security assessment. By performing network security assessments, you will always be in the know of where you are most vulnerable. This is important because knowing your vulnerabilities is half the battle of fighting them. If you know where you are most vulnerable your team can make efforts to patch these holes, or at least minimize the chance of them being used to compromise your network.

Overall, network security assessments are important because they provide you with information that helps protect your data, employees, and your customers. Most valuable company data is often available through your networks, so bolstering your defenses and learning where an attack is most likely is priceless for your cybersecurity team.

The Two Forms of Network Security Assessments

There are two major types of network security assessments: vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. Each of these tests provides valuable insight into your network and helps your cybersecurity team function more effectively and efficiently.

Vulnerability Assessments

Vulnerability assessments are basic security audits performed on your organization. This form of network security assessment is designed to look at the security of your network from the point of view of all three vulnerability categories (internal, external, and social). These assessments are often conducted using automated tools and produce reports which detail network weaknesses from each of the categories and your network as a whole.

This type of assessment will identify areas of high risk and provide insight into where changes need to be made to minimize network vulnerabilities. Vulnerability assessments provide valuable overall insight into the makeup of your company network. This type of assessment gives your team a great jumping off point to focus their defensive efforts.

Penetration Tests

Penetration tests are a form of network audit that includes most of the components of a vulnerability assessment but dives deeper into the internal, external, and social testing. Pentests are typically more advanced and require more manual testing than basic vulnerability assessments. Pentests often involve exploitation of discovered vulnerabilities to determine a higher level of detail and the extent of the potential risk. 

Pentests include vulnerability assessments but apply more advanced manual techniques as well. Skilled pentesters provide documentation that explains their procedures, findings, and recommendations for fixing discovered issues. Penetration tests are an essential, detailed form of network security assessment that provide in-depth information on security posture. 

How to Conduct a Network Security Assessment 

Conducting a network security assessment is a crucial criterion in identifying and curbing vulnerabilities. There are, however, certain steps to take in ensuring an optimal assessment of an organization’s network security infrastructure. These steps include:

1. Gather Information

One of the vital steps to conducting a network security assessment is to gather information. This step involves collecting relevant information about the organization’s network architecture. This includes information about devices, services, networks, and applications, as well as the organization’s objectives, security policies, and regulatory requirements to abide by. Collecting this information allows you to identify and define the scope of assessment and the systems to be assessed. It also gives an idea of the timeframe required for the overall assessment.

2. Document and Report Findings

After gathering relevant information, it is essential to take notes and document all that was discovered during the assessment. These findings will include misconfigurations, defects in security controls, vulnerabilities, and other potential risks that the network is susceptible to. Once this information is documented, the next thing is to prepare a comprehensive report. This report will summarize the assessment results, including the detailed findings and recommendations provided.

3. Assess Vulnerabilities

The next step is to assess the vulnerabilities of the network. This process allows for easy detection and patching of any discovered weak holes in the security. It can be conducted using various automated security detections like OpenVAS, or Nessus, to run vulnerability scans. Manual penetration testing tools can also be used to identify and detect any weaknesses that the automated tools could have missed.

4. Report and Prioritize

After assessing the vulnerabilities in security, the next step is to report your findings in a structured format to enhance clarity. The report should include information about the description and potential impacts of the vulnerabilities, as well as recommendations for the remediation steps to take. Also, the vulnerabilities should be analyzed and arranged in order of priority and urgency based on how severe their impacts will be if left unaddressed. The vulnerabilities should be sorted out based on this order of priority and addressed accordingly.

5. Implement Controls and Update

Once the vulnerabilities are sorted, the next step is implementing appropriate security controls. These security control measures involve software and firmware updates, reconfiguration of network devices, and patching up systems. It is important to ensure that these control measures comply with security regulations and industry practices. It is also imperative to work on a regular update of the network infrastructure to stay on top of intrusions or cyber-attacks.

6. Monitor

The final and one of the most vital steps in conducting a network security assessment is the monitoring process. Ensuring network security isn’t a one-time process. The network needs to be continuously monitored to maintain security. This can be done by implementing security monitoring tools like intrusion detection system (IDS) and log analysis tools that allow regular network security analysis and review.

How Does Network Scanning Help Assess Operations Security? 

Network scanning is a crucial technique that actively probes a network to gain insights into the network’s architecture and security posture to examine potential security risks. To achieve this aim, various scanning tools are employed to identify open ports and the services running on the ports, which could help detect their potential weaknesses.

For example, if a port scanning tool detects and reveals open ports such as port 80 (HTTP), this would indicate the presence of web servers, which can help determine if any unsecured services are exposed to the internet. Other than this, network scanning can also detect vulnerable software versions and outdated firmware, identify rogue and unauthorized systems, expose security misconfiguration, and provide a baseline for future security improvements.

The Overall Objectives of a Network Security Assessment

1. Discover internal, external, and social attack vectors to which your organization may be susceptible.
2. Identify vulnerabilities in servers within your network, usually within your files, applications, or databases.
3. Find a combination of low-risk vulnerabilities that could be used in tandem to create a high-risk vulnerability for the company.
4. Test the reliability of network defenses against a large variety of attacks.
5. Measure the scope and impact of successful attacks on the company, in regard to both internal and external attacks.
6. Provide guidance to your cyber security team regarding identified vulnerabilities and how said vulnerabilities should be prioritized.

Tips for a Successful Network Security Assessment 

The aim of employing and conducting a network security assessment is to ensure optimal network security that is least susceptible or insusceptible to compromise. This means that ensuring the success of the assessment is tantamount to providing and maintaining maximum network security. The tips for making sure that the network security assessment is successful include:

1. Conduct a Comprehensive Inventory

A comprehensive inventory would include all critical assets (hardware and software) and all devices, applications, databases, and network connections of the network infrastructure. Conducting a comprehensive inventory helps you tick all your boxes during the assessment. It gives you a concise list of all your assets and ensures all are included in the assessment. It also lets you keep an updated report of all the assets. 

2. Review Security Policies and Procedures

Another tip to consider is to make sure to review security policies and procedures. After reviewing, also make sure and evaluate that they align with the industry and regulatory requirements. This allows for constant checks for gaps and holes and patching up appropriately when necessary. It also encourages regular updates to meet these required standards and policies.

3. Seek Professional Expertise

To ensure that your network security is up to par, it is advisable to seek the help of a professional. These professionals have the necessary skills, tools, and experience to handle security vulnerabilities. They can provide a comprehensive evaluation of your network security and also give the best recommendations. They are, therefore, the go-to option when vulnerabilities and compromises in network security are involved.

4. Conduct Penetration Testing

Penetration testing aids in identifying vulnerabilities by simulating real-world cyber attacks. This way, you can identify weak spots that go undetected by automatic scans. Employing and implementing penetration testing helps to control attacks and attempts to exploit vulnerabilities. This will, in turn, help to prevent the success of any invader without the appropriate access.

5. Analyze and Document Findings

Analyzing and documenting findings is also an excellent tip that you should implement. This includes compiling results from all internal and external efforts to assess and test the network. Then, prioritize the vulnerabilities and address them in that order allows for efficiency and serves as a roadmap for remediation.

Conclusion

Network security should be an ongoing process. So, it is important to conduct regular network security assessments of varying focuses and types to be able to keep up with constantly changing systems and the inevitable weaknesses and vulnerabilities that will present.