Which two advantages in security controls are provided by Software Defined Networks SDN over traditional network security solutions?

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is not a novel approach - it has been around in concept and practiced for nearly a decade. SDN involves the virtualization of network assets, offering greater visibility, scalability, and control. This action moves the network from being made up of individual pieces to a centralized dashboard.

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SDN security defined
Benefits of SDN security
1. Network segmentation
2. Easier centralized remote management
3. Automation
4. Scalability
5. Smaller physical footprint
How SDN Differs from Traditional Networking
Components of an SDN

A software-defined approach to security functions on the same principle, but instead of virtualizing the entire network, we add virtualized security components. Let’s take a look at the benefits of moving away from a traditional network security approach to a software-defined one.

SDN security defined

Software-defined network security involves virtualizing security functions from the traditional hardware they tend to operate on. They enforce virtual network functions, with data and monitoring accessible through one intuitive interface.

The latest generation of software-defined security applications make use of automation to better detect anomalies in network traffic and improve the enforcement of security policies. This makes it easier to detect suspicious activity more quickly and respond more efficiently to prevent intrusions and minimize damage in the event of a breach.

Benefits of SDN security

1. Network segmentation

One of the tenants – and intrinsic benefits – of software-defined network security is easier network segmentation. Network segmentation involves creating subnetworks inside of a larger network. Segmentation can help compartmentalize and organize your organization’s network traffic. For instance, it may restrict your sales department’s machines (physical or virtual) from communicating with your financial team’s machines.

This allows for more efficient bandwidth use by reducing the size of broadcast domains and reducing unnecessary traffic on the network. From a security perspective, it helps reduce an organization’s attack surface and thus restricts the area of data security breaches. Therefore, when one machine or application is infected, segmentation blocks it from affecting separate devices and applications.

2. Easier centralized remote management

Virtualized software-based network security is easier to manage from a single centralized dashboard. This means network and security administrators can access it and view it remotely, so if there is a breach, the relevant parties can be notified instantly.

The Covid-19 pandemic saw companies migrating their workforces offsite. Network security for remote and hybrid work environments must be more flexible. With software-defined security, your organization’s network security experts can track the security of all employees, no matter where they are. You can ensure that network security is consistent for onsite and offsite employees.

3. Automation

Virtualizing network functions such as firewalls facilitates a greater potential for automation. A good example of this is firewall architecture. Current firewall architectures do not scale well, and this may interfere with your business’s agility. Virtual network firewalls allow you to benefit from the same features as physical firewalls, but they add more agility, flexibility, and scalability.

Traditionally, to deploy and virtualize your network, you were required to script it manually. Today, companies can implement a turnkey solution to automate network firewall virtualization.

Furthermore, because functions like these are virtualized, they can be updated automatically – from their licensing to their policies. This makes it easier to keep up with the latest security trends. If you plan to migrate your databases or core network infrastructure, a virtualized infrastructure can offer a smoother transition,

4. Scalability

A huge advantage of the virtualized and software-defined network is scalability. It’s far easier to scale virtualized processes and network components because they don’t require the purchase of new hardware. You don’t have to add more RAM and processing power to machines or buy new ones – especially if your virtual functions are running on a cloud server.

Most cloud vendors offer automated scaling. If your security requires more system resources, your vendor can provision new instances or services to it. And as your company continues to expand along with its network, its security requirements will also change. Security tools such as virtual firewalls can be deployed nearly at will, which allows for seamless growth in your operations.

5. Smaller physical footprint

Now that the physical network infrastructure doesn’t handle your security, it leaves a smaller physical footprint. Software-defined security is hosted on virtual machines. Multiple instances can be run from a single server, which may be located on the cloud. Virtualized functions can be scaled up or down depending on your company’s requirements at any given time which allows you to cut costs on infrastructure and service fees.

Furthermore, these days, security is built into network programs and other software as part of the development process. For software vendors, this means upskilling current employees through boot camps where they can learn how to code inherently secure software. For users, it means fewer resources are needed to secure their systems when software-defined security is built-in.

Conclusion

SDN security will help bring about other security trends, such as zero-trust network access and increased cloud adoption. The benefits of software-defined security are evident, and there is no reason to delay in implementing it in your organization.

Software-defined networking (SDN) describes an architecture that separates the network control plane and the forwarding plane, aiming to simplify and improve network control. IT teams are better able to rapidly adapt to changing business requirements and application needs.

SDN is a highly flexible, agile way to adapt to growing networking requirements and enable automation and agility. By separating the network control and forwarding planes, SDN makes network control a programmable entity and abstracts the infrastructure underneath.

Network engineers benefit from SDN because they no longer have to wrangle individual network devices to offer network services, connect locations and applications, or govern resource and capacity utilization. Instead, SDN takes care of this task by directing these individual “switches” to provide services when the business requires them.

There are four unique and defining features of SDN:

Agility. As business and application needs change, administrators can adjust network configuration as required.
Centralized management. SDN consolidates network intelligence, which provides a holistic view of the network configuration and activity.
Programmability. The ability to directly program network features and configure network resources quickly and easily through automated SDN services.
Open connectivity. SDN is based on and implemented via open standards. As a result, SDN streamlines network design and provides consistent networking in a vendor-neutral architecture.

SDN relies on APIs to create a centralized management plane that lets administrators and managers decide and program network behavior. SDN creates an abstraction or virtual overlay on top of otherwise complex networking infrastructure. This enables IT teams to manage their network, application, and devices consistently with minimal knowledge of or direct interaction with that underlying technology.

SDN performs various tasks and encompasses various technologies. But its original defining purpose was to create a programmable abstraction that separates the network data and network control planes.

The control plane is the brain of the operation, managing network services and deciding how and where packets should move throughout the network. The data plane is the transport system that connects endpoints and moves packets according to the control plane’s directions.

How SDN Differs from Traditional Networking

In a traditional network environment, networks are mostly unaware of the requirements for applications running throughout the system. Operators can observe application characteristics like packet size, volume, latency, and errors. However, the types of applications and information about health or needed performance cannot always be determined.

In an SDN, applications can have information about the network and network configurations can be tailored to the applications to create a two-way flow of information.

Components of an SDN

There are three major components that make up SDN.

SDN applications: These applications relay actions and request resources through the SDN controller using APIs. SDN applications can assume various forms and serve various functions, such as network management, providing analytics, adding security or common network functions. Examples include IP address management (IPAM), managing quality of service (QoS), load balancing, or detection and mitigation of a denial-of-service (DoS) cyberattacks.
SDN controller: SDN applications send instructions to the SDN controller, which relays that information to networking components. The SDN controller also collects network information from hardware and delivers this information and relevant statistics back to the applications.
SDN networking devices: These devices are responsible for forwarding and data processing tasks, which can be performed for the data path as well. The SDN controller integrates all three layers. These API integrations are commonly called northbound or southbound interfaces. The northbound is the integration between the controller and the application while the southbound is the integration between the controller and the physical networking devices.

Businesses that invest in SDN are often lured in by its ability to support data-heavy applications. But beyond that purpose, there are innumerable benefits that make SDN a worthy venture. Below are several of the top advantages.

Context and Visibility: In an SDN, users can view the entire network through a centralized source, which simplifies provisioning and managing processes.
Lifecycle Management and Automation: Business demands vary day-to-day, so IT managers need to set up what-if network configurations to accommodate demands from new applications and virtual machines (VMs). In an SDN, these what-if configurations are easy to do and pose no impact on the network.
Security: Improved security makes SDN a no-brainer for many businesses. Security is centralized in an SDN. In this central controller, an IT manager can create and distribute security policies throughout the enterprise with ease.
TCO and ROI: Lower operating expenses are another alluring benefit of SDN. Because an SDN improves overall resource and server utilization, businesses will experience reduced operational costs and administrative expenses.
Cloud: SDN is an excellent way to help “cloudify” the datacenter, ultimately helping to unify the components of a business’s infrastructure. Specifically, a business can abstract, and therefore unify, cloud resources through SDN.
DevOps: The ability to redirect and shape data traffic is a defining feature of SDN. This enables IT teams to improve their service delivery and network responsiveness, which makes the end-user experience more seamless.

There are different levels of security protection offered via SDN. Perhaps most notable is the centralized intelligence SDN offers, enabling IT administrators to quickly and easily set and keep security policies. These policies can be universally enforced throughout the network and can be maintained and enforced through central control.

Furthermore, SDN creates an abstraction layer between the software and the hardware, allowing IT teams to bypass proprietary devices and simply start developing security tools to implement across the network. As a result, there is greater transparency for gathering insights and possible threats if a security breach occurs.

Security is scalable with SDN. Rather than requiring expensive, proprietary hardware and security controls, IT teams can create, control and deploy security policies at scale as software grows, new clouds and applications are provisioned, or as business needs change. If a segment shuts down or has a security gap, the transparency of SDN allows administrators to quickly and easily detect malware.

There are multiple use cases where SDN is beneficial. First, SDN can help support DevOps initiatives. Application updates, deployments and even IT infrastructure components can be automated through SDN while DevOps applications and platforms are created and deployed.

Second, businesses can leverage SDN controllers to improve the functionality of campus networks, which are often complex due to ongoing Wi-Fi and Ethernet needs. The central SDN controller delivers automation and centralized management that improves security and helps businesses deliver more high-quality services across the network.

Third, service provider networks can leverage SDN to automate the process of provisioning networks for improved service management and increased control.

Finally, businesses can enjoy the increased protection and simplified firewall administration that SDN provides. Businesses can create distributed firewall systems through the virtualization capabilities of SDN, delivering an extra layer of security to prevent a breach from hopping from one VM to another.

Administrators and managers can also centrally track and change network activity to proactively detect vulnerabilities and eliminate possible data breaches.