Within an organisation, all employees are connected to each other via a network. For larger companies, network segmentation can be very beneficial to divide different departments of the company in the network. In these divided sections, a company can apply specific security rules, so other departments aren’t able to access particular areas of the company network. This is called network segmentation.

Network segmentation is a very effective security strategy.

It’s effective to control the amount of access each user has in a network and to track traffic throughout the network. If a hacker got into one section of the network, only the devices and employees in that department will be impacted. The rest of the organisation is protected from the security measures in place from network segmentation.

It also limits the amount of damage a cyber-attack has on a company.

Network segmentation limits the hacker gaining access to the whole organisation if they get into one section. Similarly to this example, network segmentation does the same with viruses and malware that enter the network. It will only impact employees and devices in the affected department of the network. This reduces the spread of the malware to the rest of the company, saving a lot of time and money to recover.

In organisations such as the medical and health sector, it is crucial to keep patient information confidential. Network segmentation can assist by creating separate sections of the network for guests and doctors. This will reduce the risk of having unknown devices connecting to the network, while keeping sensitive information private. This is also useful for medical devices, as network segmentation can keep these devices protected from malicious traffic in the network.

Another way to think of network segmentation is if you were a zookeeper.

For the safety of all the zoo animals, you wouldn’t put all the animals together in one cage! Similar to your employees and devices. If there’s a cyber-incident and all employees are on the same network, the entire company is impacted. But, if all employees are segmented into different departments on the network, this makes it harder for hackers to gain access to the whole company, and also easier for you as a company to control. So, if the lions escape from their cage, all the other zoo animals won’t be impacted, as they’re still safe in their cages.

Best practices for network segmentation is to audit your network on a regular basis.

When setting up network segmentation, be sure not to over segment. The goal of segmentation is to restrict the level of access to sensitive information, so keep this in mind when setting this up in your network. A good way to segment is to group similar resources and categorize in your company together.

How can we help?

At IP Partners, we offer auditing services. This include examination and evaluation of an organisations information and technology infrastructure, policies and operations. Upon completing, we will provide a document with recommendations and prioritized remediation actions, to help guide longer-term planning for your organisation. Click here to learn more about our auditing services, or contact our team by emailing sales@ippartners.com.au or calling (08) 7200 6080