Network Security is a set of operations for protecting data, applications, devices, and systems connected to the network. It focuses on the system design, operation, and management of the architecture/infrastructure to provide network accessibility, integrity, continuity, and reliability.

Traffic analysis (often called Network Traffic Analysis) is a subdomain of the Network Security domain, and its primary focus is investigating the network data to identify problems and anomalies.

The essential concern of Network Security focuses on two core concepts: authentication and authorisation.

Base Network Security Control Levels:

• Physical → Prevent unauthorized physical access to networking devices, cable boards, locks, and all linked components.
• Technical → Data security controls prevent unauthorised access to network data, like installing tunnels and implementing security layers.
• Administrative → Provide consistency in security operations like creating policies, access levels, and authentication processes.

Main approaches:

Access Control → The starting point of Network Security. It is a set of controls to ensure authentication and authorisation.

Key Elements of Access Control:

• Firewall Protection
• NAC
• IAM
• Load Balancing
• Network Segmentation
• VPN
• Zero Trust Model

Threat Control → Detecting and preventing anomalous/malicious activities on the network. It contains both internal (trusted) and external traffic data probes.

• IDS/IPS