“These new security monitoring tools may have components of artificial intelligence incorporated into them that will automatically sift through much of the data that’s being generated from the networks,” says Sagar Samtani, assistant professor of operations and decision technologies at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
“The new tools are getting smarter in terms how they operate, what they can pick up and what they can detect,” Samtani says. The latest network security tools offer more robust network monitoring, do more to secure company Wi-Fi and can respond to potential breaches.
A Network Refresh to Boost Security
Drooker had such modernized capabilities in mind when he set out to refresh Gem Shopping Network’s security backbone, seeking to bolster network security from both a physical and a virtual perspective.
“We wanted to create a tighter virtual LAN, where we isolate traffic so it only goes where it needs to go,” he says.
To do that, the company deployed both physical and virtual solutions, using Cisco Meraki wireless access points and firewalls, as well as two-factor authentication. These changes aimed to put guardrails around out-of-town jewelry dealers, who are frequent guests at Gem Shopping Network headquarters, and other visitors who use the company’s network to connect to their home offices while onsite. “We have to make sure that they’re going where they need to go — but only where they need to go. We want to make sure we are monitoring all that traffic,” Drooker says.