Different types of network security

Cybercriminals gain an entry point into the network by exploiting its various weak points. As used IT assets have a lot of vulnerabilities that could be exploited, network administrators are tasked with ensuring protection against a diverse range of threats. This can be a tremendous task to oversee. However, there are a lot of handy tools that can be used to increase the network's security and resistance.

Network security is a complex field, so we'll go through this article's main network protection methods. This should prove handy when planning an organization's cybersecurity strategy.

Key takeaways

• Network security protects hardware, software, and users with the overall security being only as strong as its weakest component.
• Network security employs a threefold approach to protection: technical, physical, and administrative measures.
• There are many network security tools and methods. They include, to mention just a few examples, firewalls, network segmentation, VPNs, access control, antivirus software, endpoint detection and response (EDR), application security, and cloud security.
• Each network component must meet security standards as overall protection is only as strong as its weakest link.
• Network security's complexity lies in preventing and responding to various potential cyber threats.

What is network security?

Network security is the broad practice of protecting a computer network and its resources from intruders, whether they are targeted by attackers or opportunistic malware. It involves a strategic combination of hardware, software, and organizational policies designed to prevent, enable effective threat detection, and respond to unauthorized access, misuse, or modification of the network.

Your overall network security setup is as strong as its weakest component. A network breach can lead to devastating consequences, including the theft of sensitive data, significant financial loss, operational downtime, and severe, long-lasting damage to an organization's reputation. Therefore, effective network security creates a secure and trusted foundation for businesses to operate.

3 types of network security controls

Effective network security involves a blend of controls, which can be grouped into three main categories: technical (think firewalls and software), physical (think locked doors and security guards), and administrative (think security policies and employee training).

Regardless of their category, these controls also serve specific functions. Some are preventive, acting as a shield to stop cyber-attacks before they happen. Others are detective, sounding an alarm to alert specialists when an intrusion is in progress. This multi-layered strategy establishes the essential requirements for safeguarding the organization from a wide range of potential risks.

Technical network protection

When talking about network security, its technical side is usually the one that gets the most attention. This is because the network can serve as a direct route for hackers from outside the perimeter to access the data stored on your network. Therefore, the main purpose of technical security is to seal off private data internally and externally.

As the data is constantly passed between different departments and employees, its transit security is a key risk. Technical solutions will be the ones that deal with encryption, hashing, and other technologies that scramble data to make its hijacking more difficult.

Physical network protection

While the main focus of network security usually makes it harder to penetrate remotely, neglecting the infrastructure's physical security can be harmful. All networks must rely on physical hardware, and interfering with network components can be very easy. This may bypass even the smartest technical security setup you have.

Usually, physical network protection solutions have more to do with door locks, and ID passes to seal off server rooms and other areas. The main idea is that the harder it is to get in the room with a server, the lower the risk that this will be exploited by hackers who may decide to infiltrate the building physically.

Administrative network protection

The administrative side of network security deals with various policies in which users can access specified types of data. In essence, it's a rule set that helps to control a user's behavior within a network by drawing lines that can't be crossed.

Administrative network protection is a standard procedure when setting up company networks. However, the Zero Trust approach is becoming more popular, which is one of the driving forces of administrative network protection reforms. Under this approach, no implicit trust is given based on the incoming internal connections - identity has to be confirmed when accessing all resources.

Types of network security protection

Regarding cybersecurity, the specialists working on the defense methods are always at a disadvantage compared to hackers. It's always much easier to poke holes in someone else's setup than to devise a resilient plan that prevents various attacks. For this reason, network security solutions usually focus on one or several areas.

Here is the list of the most popular network protection types and tools:

Firewalls

A firewall acts as a digital gatekeeper, monitoring and controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic based on a predefined set of rules. Based on these rules configured by network administrators, it decides which traffic to allow and which to block. Its core job is to prevent unauthorized access and malicious activities.

Simple firewalls might only filter based on IP addresses, but modern stateful firewalls track active connections. Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) can even inspect the content of traffic to identify specific applications and threats. This ensures that legitimate, work-related tools can function smoothly while malicious connections are blocked.

Intrusion prevention systems

An intrusion prevention system analyzes network traffic to detect harmful activity by searching for common attack patterns in real-time. These common patterns, called signatures, can be specific malware or exploit attempts. The system can also use anomaly-based detection to spot unusual behavior that deviates from a normal baseline.

When a threat is detected, the IPS takes immediate, automated action. It actively shuts down the attack by dropping malicious packets, blocking traffic from the source, or resetting the connection to protect your data. Unlike a firewall, which just filters based on rules, an IPS deeply inspects the content of the traffic it has already allowed.

Workload security

As more organizations rely on Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, employees' workloads can vary in many locations. This means, workloads are no longer confined to a single on-premise data center. Rather, they are distributed across physical servers, virtual machines, containers, and various cloud environments.

This hybrid model makes traditional perimeter security insufficient. Workload security ensures that applications and their data are protected wherever they run, securing them from vulnerabilities, malware, and misconfigurations at the source. This must be done seamlessly, providing strong protection without interfering with application performance or disrupting employee productivity.

Network segmentation

Network segmentation is the practice of splitting a larger computer network into smaller, isolated sub-networks or segments. This classification allows an organization to enforce granular security policies based on the sensitivity of the data within each segment. Not all data is equally sensitive; for example, a segment containing financial records can be locked down with much stricter rules than a guest Wi-Fi network. The primary benefit is threat containment: if one segment is breached, segmentation prevents attackers from easily moving laterally across the entire company's infrastructure. This is often achieved using VLANs (Virtual LANs), subnets, and internal firewalls to control traffic flow between zones based on identity and authentication.

VPN

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a critical tool for remote access, that establishes a secure, encrypted connection-often called a tunnel-over a public network. It routes all traffic from the user's endpoint to the company's server, scrambling the data using strong protocols so that any snooping or Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) hijacking attempts become nearly impossible. This ensures data confidentiality and integrity, even on unsecured public Wi-Fi. Business-focused solutions adapt this core technology, integrating it with strong identity-based access controls and network segmentation to secure modern, hybrid teams as part of a comprehensive security model.

Access control

Network access control is a method that determines who-both users and devices-have access to sensitive applications and network data. Whether protecting financial records or employee data, restricting access is vital. These systems work by first authenticating the identity of a user or device. Once identified, the system assigns access rights according to predefined user roles, a step known as authorization. This enforces the principle of least privilege (PoLP), ensuring users only get the access they absolutely need. Access control effectively excludes illegitimate users, drastically reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized infiltration.

Antivirus software

Even with strong network security at the network level, some threats can still slip through; a user can still accidentally infect their device. Antivirus software is the go-to solution for scanning, detecting, and removing malware-like viruses, worms, and trojans-that have made it onto a device. It can also actively block malicious software from executing in the first place. To stay effective against new threats, antivirus programs must constantly connect to malware labs to retrieve the latest threat definitions, also known as signatures. This is why it is absolutely essential to keep your antivirus software up to date and running at all times, often as part of a broader endpoint detection and response (EDR) strategy.

Application security

Application security is the practice of finding, fixing, and preventing security vulnerabilities within software applications. While a major part of this is vulnerability management-ensuring all user and server applications are fully patched-it's not the only part. Cybercriminals actively hunt for newly revealed exploits, known as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), and race to use them against unpatched, vulnerable software to infiltrate a system. A single vulnerable application can provide an entry point into the entire network. True application security also involves secure coding practices during development and using testing tools to find flaws before an application is ever deployed.

Behavioral analytics

Behavioral analytics tools, often part of a User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) system, use machine learning to establish a baseline of normal, everyday activity for users and devices on the network. This pattern of life becomes a reference point. The system then continuously monitors for anomalies or significant deviations from this baseline. For example, if a user who typically works 9-to-5 suddenly logs in at 3 AM from a different country, or a server starts downloading unusually large amounts of data, the system flags it. This immediately informs an IT administrator, who can investigate the network logs and act quickly to disable the connection, making it highly effective for detecting insider threats or compromised accounts.

Cloud security

Cloud security encompasses the set of procedures and technologies designed to protect data, applications, and infrastructure hosted in online services. As businesses increase their cloud integration, the potential risks from both external and internal threats grow. This means implementing strict access control mechanisms to regulate how cloud access is granted, preventing cloudjacking attacks where malicious individuals take control of a cloud account. It also involves securing the access channels themselves, often through encryption, when data is uploaded or downloaded. Striking the right balance between productivity and security is paramount in protecting the overall network infrastructure in a cloud-reliant world.

Data loss prevention

Data loss prevention (DLP) is a set of tools and security processes designed to ensure that an organization's most vital and sensitive information is not lost, misused, or accessed by unauthorized users. While backups are part of data safety, DLP's main job is to prevent data exfiltration-the accidental or malicious exposure of sensitive data. It works by identifying, classifying, and monitoring critical information, whether it's at rest (in storage), in use (on an endpoint), or in transit(crossing the network). When it detects a policy violation-like a user trying to send this data via an unsafe channel like a personal email, cloud service, or USB drive-the DLP system can automatically block the action or alert an administrator.

Email security

As email remains a primary vector for cyber-attacks, it's critical to think about email security. This practice involves multiple technologies, often bundled into a Secure Email Gateway (SEG), that act as advanced filters for incoming messages. These systems go far beyond basic spam filtering. Each message's header is analyzed to check for spoofing and impersonation attempts, often using standards like SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance). Attached files are then scanned for malware and may even be opened in a sandbox-a safe, virtual environment-to see if they perform malicious actions. If the email contains a link, it's analyzed in real-time to detect phishing attempts.

Mobile device security

As mobile device usage explodes, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting smartphones and their apps. This trend is amplified by Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies where personal devices are used at the workplace. Therefore, mobile device security is crucial. It requires stricter controls, often managed through Mobile Device Management (MDM) or Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solutions. These tools enforce critical policies like requiring strong passcodes, enabling data encryption, and having the ability to remotely wipe a lost or stolen device. A key rule is blocking jailbroken or rooted devices, as they have had their core security measures disabled, making them easily hacked and a dangerous entry point into the corporate network.

Security information and event management

A huge part of modern cybersecurity is data analytics. This is where Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools are essential. A SIEM system acts as a central hub, collecting, aggregating, and analyzing log data from virtually every device on the network-including firewalls, servers, and applications. It doesn't just store this data; it actively correlates different events to find patterns that might indicate a security threat. This provides the IT team with a single, comprehensive view, making it possible to detect attacks in real-time, diagnose security bottlenecks, and continuously optimize the entire network setup.

Web security

Web security is designed to stop online threats before they can ever infect a user's device. Many threats can be blocked directly by the browser, but corporate solutions often use a Secure Web Gateway (SWG). This technology acts as a checkpoint, actively adapting to remote threats by relying on vast, constantly updated databases that track malicious websites. These databases list sites known for phishing, malware, or other scams. When a user tries to access a URL on this list, the gateway blocks the connection completely. This effective URL filtering stops malware and phishing attacks before they reach the endpoint.

Wireless security

A wireless network (Wi-Fi) is highly susceptible to remote attacks because its signal broadcasts far beyond an office's physical walls, making it accessible to anyone in the vicinity, such as in a parking lot or adjacent building. With some dedication, a cybercriminal could intercept traffic or connect to your internal network without ever setting foot on the premises. Wireless security is, therefore, an essential method to prevent such unauthorized access. This involves using the strongest available encryption protocol, like WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 3), and strengthening access control through strong passphrases or enterprise-grade authentication like 802.1X, which requires individual user credentials.

Conclusion

Ultimately, robust network security is a comprehensive strategy, not a single product. It requires blending strong technical tools like firewalls and VPNs with smart administrative policies and essential physical safeguards. By understanding how these different elements work together, an organization can move beyond simply reacting to threats. This proactive, layered approach establishes a truly secure foundation for protecting your most valuable data from every angle.