When we talk about network analytics, we mean data-driven tools and approaches that allow us to monitor, analyze, and optimize networks for safety, scalability, and efficiency. By examining the flow of data across the network, identifying anomalies, and predicting potential issues, these tools and practices help businesses effectively manage traffic, implement novel technologies and infrastructure, and maintain operational performance in their networks.
For performance monitoring, network analytics can be used to ensure that the network is running optimally, with high availability and sufficient bandwidth for users and applications. This involves tracking performance metrics (also known as Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs), diagnosing issues, and optimizing traffic flows to prevent slowdowns or downtime.
Tools and techniques include:
For cybersecurity, network analytics involves the real-time monitoring of network traffic, user behaviors, and system interactions to detect abnormal patterns that might indicate a security threat, such as a cyberattack.
Tools and techniques for this purpose include:
Network analytics is widely used as part of cybersecurity, network performance monitoring (NPM), observability, and business intelligence efforts to improve network efficiency and security and support operational decision-making. Any company looking to optimize the performance and health of their network and IT infrastructure should have access to network analytic capabilities. Benefits include:
Network analytics has evolved significantly over the past few decades, driven by the increasing complexity and demands of business networks. In the early days of networking, tools were often manual, requiring administrators to interpret log files and perform periodic checks. As networks grew larger and more complex, the need for more advanced analysis became apparent. After the invention of NIKSUN's revolutionary NetVCR in the 1990s, businesses began adopting Network Performance Monitoring (NPM) tools that provided real-time monitoring of traffic flows, bandwidth usage, and device health. Tools like SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) enabled businesses to gather performance data from network devices, helping to identify and troubleshoot issues more efficiently.
With the rise of cybersecurity threats in the 2000s, network analytics evolved to incorporate more sophisticated Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Network Detection and Response (NDR), and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms, providing deeper insights into potential threats and vulnerabilities. Here too, NIKSUN led the charge, with the innovative NetVCR platform becoming a full-fledged IDS and NDR platform with NIKSUN's NetDetectorLive, and SIEM with NIKSUN's LogWave.
In the last decade, as cloud computing, IoT, and SDN (Software-Defined Networking) became mainstream, network analytics tools advanced further, integrating machine learning and AI to offer predictive analytics and anomaly detection. These modern tools enable businesses to proactively optimize performance, enhance security, and ensure compliance with regulations in real time, making network analytics a crucial element of business operations today
While network analytics is highly effective in optimizing performance and enhancing security, some obstacles can make it difficult for businesses to fully leverage its potential.
Key challenges in network analytics include:
Let's look at how NIKSUN can solve all these challenges for network analytics.
Problem: Analytics platforms can be overwhelmed by the sheer data volume of modern networks.
Solution: Designed from the ground up with scalability in mind, NIKSUN's platform can run over a hundred thousand threat intelligence rules across multi-Tbps of network traffic without dropping a single packet or other data type. This extreme scalability is why NIKSUN is the chosen provider of Full Packet Capture for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in the Defense Information System Agency (DISA)'s network protection program. But you don't need to be a large organization to have this problem – or to take advantage of NIKSUN's zero-loss solution. Like enterprise operations, small and medium-sized businesses can't afford packet loss with their network analytics tools. This is where Murphy's Law comes into play: the crucial data you need is often the data you'll miss if you're not using a lossless tool. Fortunately, NIKSUN's platform—the same technology that safeguards the Department of Defense—is accessible to businesses of all sizes. NIKSUN's zero-loss data capture and warehousing technology works at any scale to ensure all the data is ingested and accounted for from every source type (packets, logs, flows, SNMP, and more), in one unified, cross-correlated, high scale database.
Problem: Network environments are growing increasingly complex, making it more challenging to get a unified view.
Solution: NIKSUN solves this problem by offering a single platform that can ingest all the data from your entire infrastructure, providing a unified view into everything you operate – on-prem, cloud, virtual, etc. As network complexity grows, the last thing you want is an incomplete picture generated from point solutions. NIKSUN's single-pane-of-glass approach means you gain comprehensive visibility and crucial insights across your infrastructure for every app and service, internal or third-party, with the ability to ingest logs, metrics, flows, packets, and more – and for every use case, including security, performance, availability, and compliance.
Problem: Cybersecurity threats are becoming ever more sophisticated and harder to detect, with attackers using advanced techniques like AI, encrypted communication, and multi-layered strategies to evade traditional defenses and exploit vulnerabilities.
Solution: NIKSUN encompasses all performance, compliance, and security alarming techniques – like Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), anomaly detection, and content analysis – in one platform, boosting our ability to tackle sophisticated threats. By using a mix of methods, NIKSUN can spot a wider range of attacks and respond faster to new ones. This combined approach also helps connect the dots, resulting in clearer visibility and reducing false alarms. As cyber attackers get smarter and use advanced tactics to slip past traditional defenses, having everything in one place means your security can adapt and stay one step ahead, keeping your organization safe and keeping you informed of everything happening in your network infrastructure.
Problem: Finding specialists to manage and interpret complex network data can be a challenge.
Solution: NIKSUN solves this problem by offering a platform that doesn't require expertise to understand and use. Reporting is easy and made quickly interpretable by high-level visualizations and executive level dashboards, which are built automatically off the underlying data, so you don't lose accuracy to human error/bias. With NIKSUN, you can do everything from the same platform. You learn one UI, manage everything in one place, and each piece connects seamlessly. Administrators and users log in to the same platform, with Role Based Access Controls (RBAC) allowing them to see different configuration screens. This means admins can make an alarm, then go right to the dashboards to see it running and tune it as needed – no hopping between platforms. And data collection is also set up from the same platform – no need to go somewhere else to gather, configure, and manage the data you want to collect and analyze. What's more, you can open Cases right in the platform to manage incident response and investigations – forget relying on a costly and often confusing integration with a ticketing provider. NIKSUN makes it easy and manageable using a single platform – and your existing team.
Problem: The increased use of segmentation can reduce network visibility.
Solution: NIKSUN's simple setup lets you collect data easily from everywhere in your network, and bring it back into one central, aggregated view. NIKSUN integrates with all your apps, databases, servers, and more from its powerful UI. Our click-to-download tool allows you collect any type of data you want from any area in your infrastructure within a couple of minutes and with extreme ease. NIKSUN's comprehensive solution is truly a one-stop shop for every conceivable use case – security, performance, compliance, availability, and more – monitoring all types of feeds to deliver a complete picture of your network, plus powerful analytics, from any data you send.
NIKSUN is the recognized world leader in empowering organizations to Know the Unknown®. Since 1997, we have been committed to delivering the most innovative solutions for securing and optimizing the networks of over a thousand customers including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and service providers.
Our industry leading suite of scalable, forensics-based cyber security and network performance monitoring products provide customers with in-depth and actionable insight into security threats, performance issues, and compliance risks. NIKSUN's patented real-time analysis and recording technology is the industry's most comprehensive solution for securing and maintaining dynamic network infrastructure.