The Value of Network Masking
Masking Networks has introduced network masking to protect the identity and presence of firewalls, servers, LAN segments, and other devices at Layer 2 and provide a sound foundation for securing Layer 3 and other upper layers. Effective network masking requires full network interoperability and performance to be maintained without increasing the network configuration management burden.
The most urgent customer demand is driven by requirements to isolate and segment networks. Examples include government – contractor interfaces, industrial and IT networks, and places of converging network traffic. Network masking prevents or greatly hinders node hopping, traffic analysis, and other vulnerabilities in these situations. Highly distributed networks also present perimeter and sub-net security challenges that are addressed by network masking, enabling government agencies to avoid having to trade-off security for expediency during times of crisis.
Business enterprise segments have similar network segmentation compliance requirements, particularly for energy, finance and healthcare. These include isolating a SCADA network from the utility's IT network, protecting privacy information and financial transactions, as well as network segmentation for trade and export compliance. Network masking also provides small and medium businesses with an easy due care option to maintain a reasonable security posture without adopting a large configuration management burden.
In summary, network masking addresses the business requirement to segment networks as well as information assurance requirement to secure Layer 2 and Layer 3.