Whether you work in a small business or a large enterprise, keeping track of every device connecting to your network is virtually impossible. In fact, IT professionals estimate that by 2020, the number of connected devices will reach more than 28 billion. That’s why it’s so essential for organizations to develop a comprehensive strategy for managing and monitoring their network operations.
This blog post outlines some best practices for managing and monitoring your enterprise network. These include identifying the most critical services, establishing an auditing framework, creating an action plan, and implementing a security policy mechanism. You might also find these articles helpful:

Identify Your Network’s Issues

First and foremost, it’s essential to identify your network’s issues so you can fix them before they’re too big to ignore. This can be done using end-to-end encryption tools to wash data from one device to the next. Next, you’ll want to look at the source of your problems to identify where you could be fixing them. You can review audit documentation to determine what issues exist within your organization. A classic point that you might not be aware of is the poor quality of your Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. That might sound like a small problem, but it can affect your entire network. If your IP addresses get hacked or stolen, it could affect your business. Even worse: Your current IP address assignments might have been hacked and injected with malware. The good news is that these issues can be resolved through an audit. This way, you won’t have to worry about security issues outside your control.

Develop An Auditing Framework

Auditing is key to any network management strategy. Every device connected to an organization’s network must be tested for vulnerabilities. The best way to do this is with an end-to-end encryption tool. This will help your team protect everything they love about their jobs while helping to ensure data privacy. You’ll also want to ensure that your networks are subject to the same level of scrutiny as your software. This includes ensuring that there are no viruses, malware, or other harmful programs you can’t see or control on your networks. If you’re unsure how to conduct an audit, look into end-to-end encryption. It’s proven highly successful in protecting data, and you can complete an audit in minutes. Some types of encryption will require an online shell to complete the audit. This way, you won’t have to spend any time looking at two different places.

Set Up A rotating schedule for devices

If you keep updating devices, you create a breeding ground for malware and other malicious software. This is because new widgets are constantly being added to your network. It’s, therefore, essential to set up a rotating schedule for machines so that new devices are added to your network only when necessary. This is particularly important during times of transition. For example, during the growth from a paper to an online education model. You’ll want to ensure that all your devices can remain operational during this transition. If you have to log off your computer every day, make sure it’s possible to log back on at night. The same goes for your smart home devices. Getting them to work during the day might be too exhausting for them to handle.

Create An Action Plan

An action plan is a strategic plan that outlines the steps needed for your enterprise to move forward. It might include a plan for incident response, a plan for cyber hygiene, and a cybersecurity plan. Another way to organize your actions is using an action plan management system. This allows you to assign tasks and track progress. This can be especially useful for organizations that keep multiple teams on staff. Most action management systems will enable you to track everything from every device on your network. This can be very helpful during an incident when you might need to contact every staff member on the network simultaneously. But there’s another benefit to creating an action plan: You can use it against any future incidents on your network. For example, say you have an event involving several devices on your network, but it’s unclear who those devices are. An incident plan could help identify the root cause of the problem and assign responsibility where it’s most needed.

Secure Your Network

Now that you know what’s on your network and what’s not, it’s time to talk to your network security team. You may have heard that network security is one of a network engineer’s most critical skills. That’s certainly the case for anyone working in IT. But for network security engineers, it’s a privilege. You need to understand your network’s cybersecurity posture so that you can make proper adjustments that will improve the security of your network. This can be achieved using tools like Swish, 802.11i, and Wireshark. These tools allow you to inspect every silent wire, packet, source, and destination on your network. You’ll also need to consider adding more devices to your network to accommodate these new discoveries.

Monitor Your Network

Monitoring your network is perhaps the best way to identify any exposed vulnerabilities. This is because it’s the only way that you’ll be able to fix these issues before they become a problem. You can also use this information to create an action plan that includes the following:

• Identifying any vulnerabilities that may be present on your network
• Exploiting them to get an access control list (ACL)
• Destroying or removing all hosts that are connected to the network
• Announcing the problem to your customers, stakeholders, and management
• Ensuring that your network is secure before you end your shift
• Conclusion

There are so many decisions to make when it comes to your network. The good news is that most of them can be automated. The bad news is that this is the process’s most common and complex step. That’s where an automated network audit comes into play. You can quickly determine what’s wrong with your network and what’s not using a computerized network audit. Then you can fix these issues quickly and efficiently. You can use these steps to:

• Identify any vulnerabilities that may be present on your network
• Exploiting them to get an access control list (ACL)
• Destroying or removing all hosts that are connected to the network
• Announcing the problem to your customers, stakeholders, and management
• Ensuring that your network is secure before you end your shift
• Conclusion

These are some best practices for managing and monitoring your network. You can get enterprise network solutions services also. If you want to keep your networks secure, you will make mistakes. But by following these best practices, you can reduce your risk of making a big mistake.