How Can Network Segmentation Help A Company?
Network segmentation is an important concept when it comes to the overall security of a network. A correctly implemented network segmentation can provide many benefits listed below in this article. However, when this is not done correctly, it can result in some very severe vulnerabilities.
So let’s go ahead and take a look at what network segmentation means, why it is essential for any sized business or organization to implement and what you should keep in mind if you plan on implementing this.
Benefits of Network Segment To A Company
To help you better understand how network segmentation can help your business, let’s look at some of the top benefits of using it.
Increases Security Of Company Data
By limiting access on an individual basis, not only are you improving the overall security of your system, but you are also allowing specific departments or users to access their designated information more quickly and effectively without having to wade through unnecessary information. This will also lock down any leaks that may occur concerning sensitive company data since access to it will be limited to only the specific people who need it.
Improves Network Efficiency
The more time that an individual has to wait for something means one of two things: either the company isn’t running as efficiently as it should, or you aren’t giving your employees and customers enough resources to do their job.
If neither of those is true, you are allowing unnecessary traffic flow across your network, which can lead to issues such as network congestion or even outages. Using segments on your network will allow you to split up the different types of information so that slower connections don’t slow down faster connections while giving them all they need to function correctly with minimal slowdown.
Reduces Overall Cost
In the long run, network segmentation will be less expensive for your business to implement and maintain than trying to run your entire company on a single network. The costs of replacing hardware due to slow down or other related issues and lost productivity time from those issues mentioned above will far outweigh the initial implementation costs of a new system.
Increases Speed And Decreases Latency
When your employees can access what they need when they need it without having to search through unnecessary information y, you increase their efficiency, which increases productivity for the company as a whole. Even if only one person is working at a time, this makes a difference as that employee can now focus more on what needs to be done rather than spend valuable time looking for what they need.
Decreases Problems Related To Shared Resources
By splitting up your network, you can allocate shared resources properly. For example, printers that service multiple departments go from being jammed constantly to only servicing the specific area assigned to while also having enough ink and paper stocked every day. This involves no extra cost for your company since it is simply using part of the existing system rather than completely replacing anything, which will save you money in the long run.
Improved Performance
Splitting up an extensive network into smaller network segments allows for better use of system resources. It ensures that traffic generated by a particular user or device isn’t causing any issues elsewhere on the network. This is because if you have a web server located in one area, instead of allowing all users to access it from other sites, you will split those two areas so that only those devices from within its section can access it.
Advantages Of Network Segmentation
1. It secures data and information of an organization by limiting access to authorized people only;
2. Improves business efficiency;
3. Reduces the cost of doing business;
4. Increases speed and decreases latency in accessing resources such as printers, scanners among others;
5. Decreases problems associated with shared resources.
Disadvantages Of Network Segmentation
1. Hard to set up and manage;
2. Some segments may not work correctly, leaving some data unsecured; and
3. Increased cost in the initial implementation of the system.
5. Decreases flexibility in terms of the physical location of the information;
6. Storage space is limited since all devices share a standard storage unit.
Conclusion
Network segmentation is the logical division of a network to increase its security, manageability and performance. When one segment is under attack, it does not affect other elements in the organization.
Segmenting your network will enable you to have different policies for each segment (e.g., you can configure different firewall rules or web filtering rules for various features). This way, if one user infects his machine with Virus, then this Virus won’t spread to other devices on the network.
Another advantage is that you can apply bandwidth management easily by limiting traffic speed on specific segments only; For example, users from the marketing department mustn’t access servers from the accounting department as those resources are required for internal use only.
