Network Discovery: How to Protect Your Network?

Having software that can discover devices on network is crucial to the development of your business. These tools not only help you see devices on your network but view folder shares, hardware MAC, open UDP/TCP port. So why do you need to care about this information?

While its a bit technical, this information will only help your network stay secure. For instance, you can find folders within your shared network accidentally. Anyone who is connected to your network via wireless or cable can search for that data and find it on their computer.

When you’re searching for open ports for a device or computer, you can see if a remote desktop is enabled, whether an HTTP or FTP server is open or not. If you haven’t connected to your computer remotely, then remote desktops might be a huge risk.

What is Network Software?

When used by management and monitoring systems, scanning can be used to determine current users, take an inventory of network elements, and determine the status of devices and systems.

Oftentimes taking an inventory of devices against a list of expected devices is a good way to measure network health. All of these management functions are utilized by network administrators.

Attackers who use scanners rely on the same protocols and tools as management/monitoring scanning. An attacker would first get an IP address range assigned to your company via a domain name system (DNS).

Addresses that are within his range will be scanned when looking for servers, system architecture, and the system that’s running on each. The attacker can then work to breach the main system and architecture.

Also Read: Best iPhone Spy Apps

Why You Should Use a Network List?

Network lists are used to find devices that are within your network. Most network monitoring software will have this feature, so it’s a matter of deciding which one works the best for you.

Of course, the network list isn’t perfect. Anyone can set up the right hostname that you want, and people can change your MAC address to hack and spoof other devices. However, this means that your device might be unable to connect to a network while a spoofed MAC address is taking place.

And someone that has gained access to a router can set up the IP configuration to be stealthy. While this isn’t the most powerful security feature, you can include on your network; it can help you see what illegal devices are connected to your network.

If there are network devices that you don’t recognize, you can configure your network with WPA2-PSK encryption. This allows you to change your passwords and remove unwanted devices from your network.

Conclusion

To conclude, we believe that you can discover devices on network when using the right tools. The best way to do so is to use software to create a list of discovered devices. By doing so, you’ll be able to monitor what devices are on a network and remove what’s conflicting with your organization.

Do you have any additional questions about using network discovery devices?

Tell us in the comments below.