Self-Defending Networks

What are Self-defending Networks?

The self-defending network is a new initiative created by Cisco for system security. The idea here is to get the network having the ability to defend itself so that threat mitigations can be more effective. As we know, sometimes the admin has to go to a certain website to know the latest virus outbreak or threat and then defend his/her network. Remember the case of Code Red or SQL Slammer where it spread in exponential time. Going to a certain forum or website to look for the latest outbreak, and then patching the network are simply ineffective. By the time we patch our network, chances are that some local users may already be infected. We need a more effective approach to defend our networks.

Network Security Wheel

The network security wheel is a methodology how the network security of an enterprise is maintained. We can think about the notion of ‘wheel’ here as a depiction that says that network security is a continuous process. In other words, in order to keep the wheel rolling, security engineers/specialists in an enterprise should always maintain four steps:

1. Secure

2. Monitor

3. Test

4. Improve

We can also see that the policy is at the centre of everything. It means that all these four steps are regulated and executed according to the policy. Because of this, the presence of a good security policy is critical.