Last month, we were faced with another attack. It’s funny, isn’t it? The only thing that we are assured of these days is that an attack will happen. To be truthful, last month’s logjam vulnerability was a bit more of an issue than most. I was talking about the attack with one of our larger European customers and they supported a position that I have had since I started with Plixer over 15 years ago. In a critical situation, similar to the log4j attack, leveraging contextual metadata is the most efficient way to contain the incident. Here are a few reasons why metadata is the better choice for your visibility needs.
Read moreAuthor: James Dougherty
I have worn many hats in my professional life. Support engineer, developer, network admin and manager are all points on my resume, but the one common thread with all of these jobs is that I enjoy working with people; that is what I do here at Plixer. I make sure that everyone understands our product and can get the most out of it. It's just simple 'no bull' support!
Let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to help.
- Jimmy D
What is network traffic intelligence?
Posted on - by James Dougherty
With the onslaught of malware and cloud applications increasing, network traffic intelligence has become increasingly important. When an infection is unearthed and the incident response team moves in to figure out what exactly has happened, one of the first things they will do is request the logs, including the flow (NetFlow and IPFIX) data. Network and application issues are troubleshot in a similar way.
Read morePackets vs. flow/IPFIX: The effort to reduce dwell time
Posted on - by James Dougherty
When we hear about a cyberattack these days, there’s often a reference to when the network was originally compromised. In recent years, the need to determine how long that compromise was on the network, who else was involved, and how you’re going to gain this visibility has moved to the forefront of the SecOps team’s needs.
Read moreNetwork traffic demands of the post-pandemic era and how to manage them
Posted on - by James Dougherty
Gartner just posted their worldwide spending forecast report for the first quarter of 2021 and it looks positive. Clearly, the experts will continue to argue about the economic pressure that has been choking parts of the global economy and whether it’s losing its strength, but from Gartner’s perspective, it looks like we’ll see growth in all IT spending.
Read moreThe harsh truth about the next cyberattack
Posted on - by James Dougherty
I don’t know about you, but it seems like there’s news of some big data breach every other month. The hard truth is that no one can really predict the next cybersecurity meltdown. There is no doubt in my mind that it will happen again (and again…). Over the past 15-plus years, the one thing stuck out as being effective was the idea of always evaluating your security posture.
Read moreHow to get the best ROI for your SIEM: Tips on picking the right NDR
Posted on - by James Dougherty
Has management made enhancing your network monitoring toolset with an NDR component a priority for the new year? Have the demands of the pilgrimage to a fully remote office shed some light on dark places on your network? Are you concerned that the one thing your significant other wanted for Xmas won’t be available on Amazon? Don’t worry about it—seems like everyone is facing these issues nowadays.
Read moreReturning to normal: monitoring the reintroduction of the workforce
Posted on - by James Dougherty
When this pandemic started and nearly the entire workforce went remote, our focus was to maintain the quality of service outside of what was then normal operations. Although it seems like we still have a long road to travel, we are starting to see signs of progress. Globally, many companies are opening up their offices and giving their employees the choice of working in the office or from home. For network administrators, this adds another layer of headache.
Read moreEnhance NetOps/SecOps collaboration with Plixer’s new collections feature
Posted on - by James Dougherty
I can’t tell you how many calls I’ve been on where the NetOps and SecOps teams really don’t know what the other is doing. Sadly, in today’s remote-work-centric world, the relationship between the two teams has become vital in making sure the end users not only have the resources they need, but at the same time, making sure everything is safe and up to compliance requirements.
Read moreAre you looking for an easier way to see how your VPNs are being used on your network? Here’s how to do it.
Posted on - by James Dougherty
Who has the time, right?
You might laugh but the truth is, in the past few weeks you have become the guru of everything VPN on your company’s network. Questions are coming in left and right, and with a little time you have been able to dig into the data to find out who were your top VPN users, what applications they were using, and how your VPNs have been holding up.
Read moreVPN users complaining of poor application experience? Here’s how to troubleshoot it
Posted on - by James Dougherty
We’re all feeling it.
As a confident NetOps leader, you’ve made sure your business continuity plan had allowances for remote workers but BAM: in the blink of an eye, your company’s work-from-home policies became mandatory for everyone and your battleship of a plan now feels like it’s taking on water.
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