Network Security Testing and Best Network Security Tools

Why Network Security Testing is Important and What are the Best Tools for Network Security:

Before proceeding with this article on Network Security Test, let me ask you something.

How many of you are really scared to make payments online using your credit or debit cards? If you fall into the Yes category then you are not an exception. I can clearly imagine and understand your concern about making online payments.

Security is a point of concern for many of us, the reason for which we worry about paying online is due to the unawareness of how secure the website is.

But as times change, things also change and now most of the websites are entirely security tested to find out the flaws before it impacts the real users.

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Above is just a simple example of website security, but in reality, security is a major concern for everyone including big enterprises, small organizations, and website owners.

In this article, I am sharing with you the details on aspects of security testing of the network.

Testers mainly test using different types of network devices and techniques to identify the flaws.

This Article also covers details about the tools along with some of the top service providers for Testing Network Security.

Also read => Top Network Testing Tools

What Should You do to Test Network Security?

Network Testing involves testing network devices, servers, and DNS for vulnerabilities or threats.

Hence, it is always advisable to follow the below guidelines before you start your testing:

#1) Most critical areas should be tested first: In the Case of network security, areas that are exposed to the public are considered to be critical. So the focus should be on firewalls, web servers, routers, switches, and systems that are open to a mass crowd.

#2) Up to date with Security Patches: System under test should always have the latest security patch installed in it.

#3) Good Interpretation of Testing Results: Vulnerability Testing may sometimes lead to false-positive scores and at times may not be able to identify issues beyond the capability of the tool that is being used for testing. In such cases, testers should be experienced enough to understand, analyze and make a decision on the outcome.

#4) Awareness of the Security Policies: Testers should be well versed in the security policy or the protocol that is followed. This will help in effective testing and understanding of what is within and beyond the security guidelines.

#5) Tool Selection: From a wide range of tools available, make sure you select the tool that provides the features required for your testing.

Recommended Network Security Services

Here is the best security tool for networks:

#1) Raxis

Raxis’ elite team of senior-level penetration testers thoroughly test your external (internet-facing) and internal networks using manual techniques that malicious hackers would use in order to provide your team with prioritized findings and actionable remediation advice to keep your network secure in a world of ever-changing threats. 

Raxis offers both traditional penetration testing, Raxis Strike, as well as continuous Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS), Raxis Attack. Both models are fully compliant manual penetration tests that include targeting internal data and attempts to escalate privileges and exfiltrate sensitive data.

Why we recommend Raxis:

• Raxis penetration testing and reporting meets or exceeds requirements for various compliance standards, including NIST 800-171/CMMC, PCI, HIPAA, GLBA, ISO 27001, and SOX.
• Follows the MITRE ATT&CK framework, which typically includes scoping, actual testing using hacker tools and techniques, exploitation, pivoting to other in-scope systems, data exfiltration demonstration, and detailed reporting with remediation recommendations.
• Can include a retest to validate remediation efforts, which is often required for compliance purposes.
• Detailed report that includes an analysis of the environment, a play-by-play storyboard of the penetration test, screenshots of hacker tool outputs, and a clear remediation plan. Compliant with NIST 800-115, the standard for penetration testing reporting accepted by all major compliance standards.
• Debriefing call with your penetration tester after your team reviews the report to ask questions and discuss findings.
• Works with various cloud providers and content delivery networks, including Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Cloudflare, and Akamai.

#2) Paessler PRTG

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is an all-in-one network monitoring software that is powerful and can analyze your entire IT infrastructure. This easy-to-use solution provides everything and you will not require any additional plugins.

The solution can be used by businesses of any size. It can monitor all systems, devices, traffic, and applications in your infrastructure.

#3) Intruder

Intruder is a powerful vulnerability scanner that finds cybersecurity weaknesses in your network systems, and explains the risks & helps with their remediation before a breach can occur.

With thousands of automated security checks available, Intruder makes enterprise-grade vulnerability scanning accessible to companies of all sizes. Its security checks include identifying misconfigurations, missing patches, and common web application issues such as SQL injection & cross-site scripting.

Built by experienced security professionals, Intruder takes care of much of the hassle of vulnerability management, so you can focus on what truly matters. It saves you time by prioritizing results based on their context as well as proactively scanning your systems for the latest vulnerabilities, so you don’t need to stress about it.

Intruder also integrates with major cloud providers as well as Slack & Jira.

#4) ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus

Vulnerability Management Plus is a tool that can help you assess and prioritize vulnerabilities that could potentially compromise your network’s security. The vulnerabilities detected by the tool are prioritized on the basis of their exploitability, age, and severity.

Once a vulnerability is detected, the software proactively deals with it in the best possible manner. The software is also great at customizing, orchestrating, and automating the entire process of patching vulnerabilities. Vulnerability Management Plus also helps you mitigate zero-day vulnerabilities by deploying pre-built, tested scripts.

#5) ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

ManageEngine’s NetFlow Analyzer is another exceptional tool that facilitates continuous network security monitoring as well as anomaly detection. Once launched, the tool grants you in-depth visibility into your bandwidth utilization and network traffic.  The software works even better with the security module. 

This module leverages state-of-the-art Continuous Stream Mining Engine tech to detect zero-day network intrusions. The detected network intrusions are later classified based on their level of risk and addressed in real time. Another thing we like about this tool is its user-friendly interface, which simplifies network security testing and monitoring considerably.

#6) Site24x7

Site 24×7 does everything one would expect from an advanced network security and testing tool. Think of Site 24×7 as a platform that offers a comprehensive suite of network monitoring tools. You get a network performance monitoring tool, a traffic monitoring tool, network configuration management, and SDN monitoring in one unified platform. 

As a security testing tool, Site 24×7 is quite impressive in its functioning. You can count on it for in-depth network analysis that can help in unearthing the root cause of most network issues. It is capable of detecting any anomaly instantly without any manual intervention. This makes it one of the finest network security testing solutions out there. 

Why We Recommend Site 24×7

• Real-time performance monitoring through a health dashboard that lets you instantly identify underperforming devices. 
• Let’s you leverage SNMP across the network to automatically discover devices. 
• Offers built-in, customizable reports. These reports can be tailored for teams, audits, etc. 
• Leverages SNMP servers to monitor temperature, humidity, and voltage. 
• Can be used to monitor over 450 vendors and more than 11,000 device types. 
• A mobile app for Android and iOS that ensures network monitoring on the go. 
• Integrates with many third-party apps like Slack and Jira.

#7) Acunetix

Acunetix Online includes a network security testing tool that detects and reports over 50,000 known network vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.

It discovers open ports and running services; assesses the security of routers, firewalls, switches, and load balancers; tests for weak passwords, DNS zone transfer, badly configured Proxy Servers, weak SNMP community strings, and TLS/SSL ciphers, among others.

It integrates with Acunetix Online to provide a comprehensive perimeter network security audit on top of the Acunetix web application audit.

Other Tools:

• Forcepoint
• Penetration Testing Tool
• NMAP
• WireShark
• MetaSploit
• AVDS Vulnerability Assessment and Management
• Nessus
• Sparta
• W3af
• OpenVAs
• Qualys

Best Service Provider Companies for Network Security

• Trustwave
• SecureWorks
• Nettitude
• RedSpin
• RedTeam Secure
• Encripto
• Lateral Security
• PortCullis
• Valency Network
• Test Insane
• NetCraft
• Core Security
• Veracode
• Acunetix

List of Network Security Devices

Given below is a brief note on a few Network Security Devices

• Firewalls – Firewall is the protection layer that monitors the connections that can take place within a network.
• VPN’s – VPN Gateways are used to establish a secure connection to the remote systems.
• Anti Virus – It is used to monitor, identify and filter out all forms of malware.
• URL Filtering –URL filtering will keep the end-users protected by restricting them to access malicious sites.
• IDS system – Intrusion detection system monitors for malicious attacks and raises alerts to the admin team.

Techniques/Approaches for Testing Network Security

#1) Network Scanning

In this technique, a port scanner is used to identify all the hosts connected to the network. Network Services are also scanned like HTTP and FTP. This finally helps in ensuring whether the ports are configured to allow only the secured network services.

Further Reading => List of the BEST FireMon Competitors of the Year

#2) Vulnerability Scanning

Vulnerability Scanner helps in finding the weakness of the system or network. It provides information on the security loopholes which can be improved.

#3) Ethical Hacking

This is hacking done to identify potential threats to a system or network. This helps to identify if unauthorized access or malicious attacks are possible.

#4) Password Cracking

This method can be used to crack weak passwords. This can help in enforcing a policy with minimum password criteria which ends up creating strong passwords and is difficult to crack.

#5) Penetration Testing

Pentest is an attack done on a system/network to find out security flaws. Under the Penetration Testing Technique the Servers, endpoints, web applications, wireless devices, mobile devices, and network devices are all compromised to identify the vulnerability.

Further Reading => Have you tried these NSPM Tools

Why Network Security Test?

A well-tested website from a security perspective always gets the two prime benefits.

The benefits include:

• Customer Retention: If a Website is secure, users will definitely opt to use it over other websites. In the case of eCommerce websites, retention of customers results in the generation of more revenue online.
• Cost Savings: A website compliant with all the security protocol drives less legal charges later, and also the cost involved in getting the site back up after a security attack gets reduced.

Conclusion

The result of the network security testing not only helps the developers but should also be shared with the security team within the organization.

Further reading =>> Top competitors to Forcepoint DLP

Overall, the report can be a measurement of all the corrective action that needs to be taken, and also track the progress or improvements that are done in the area of security implementation.

Recommended read => Networking Interview Questions and Answers

Let us know your thoughts/suggestions in the comments section below.