Large-scale data breaches are reported in the press almost daily, with devastating consequences for the organizations and individuals involved. Technology innovation—from cloud computing to the Internet of Things (IoT)—is expected to drive a 100x increase in connected devices and a 1,000x increase in data traffic by 2020. This dramatically increases the network attack surface, and cybercriminals are using highly sophisticated methods to exploit this opportunity.
As providers evolve towards a more adaptive network—with increased levels of automation and fewer manual processes, security is paramount to protect the exponential growth in data traffic over the network. It’s crucial to ensure the right security measures are in place to detect and mitigate security breaches. A comprehensive strategy embeds security consciousness across the fabric of your entire organization, minimizes the attack surface of your network, and prepares your people and infrastructure for future regulatory requirements.
Ensure data remains private and secure with optical encryption solutions that protect all in-flight data 24/7 from unauthorized entities.
Deliver data free from unauthorized modifications through secure, established product life cycle processes and controls, coupled with 3rd party regulatory certifications.
Enable the availability of applications and data through an ultra-highly reliable infrastructure that minimizes downtime with up to six-nines (99.9999 percent) reliability.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) will provide the next evolution in securing both the network and the in-flight data across the network.
With SDN, various points in the cyber event chain—breach, reconnaissance, and exploitation—become both an indicator of events and a response mechanism. The flexibility and responsiveness of the network actively defend and combat denial-of-service-type attacks, especially as these attacks evolve toward cloud-type services.
Supplemental network capabilities—and sensors coupled with dynamic provisioning capabilities—open the door to an extremely resilient active defense focused at the lower layers. Additionally, the network resource allocation mix can be adjusted in accordance with the threat environment, while flow table policies can be adapted. This creates, in essence, policy-based programmable network defense.
NFV is the ability to virtualize a number of network appliances (e.g., firewalls, DPI, and routers) that were previously instantiated in separate hardware platforms, and to realize these functions using generic x86-based compute hardware. By leveraging NFV, a network operator can instantly distribute and manage these virtual appliances to any location, via the network. This not only saves space, power, and hardware costs, but it also evolves service delivery and ensures consistent security levels across the enterprise.
In response to the rapidly evolving cybersecurity threat landscape, regulations around the world are upping the pressure on organizations to protect their sensitive customer and operational data. So much so, that the maximum fine for a data breach in Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, for example, could be up to 4 percent of global revenues—enough to put even large organizations out of business.
The right network security partner can help you ensure that all the people, processes, and technology that touch your networking operations are completely trustworthy and security oriented. Ciena’s security capabilities stem from our commitment to secure our business—from protecting our own information assets and those of our partners—to delivering solutions with confidence in the processes and controls that go into the design, deployment, and operation of a Ciena-enabled network.
The Adaptive Network
