The Microsoft Network Monitor is one example of a tool
that analyzes a network for
troubleshooting purposes. In a typical company, there is always a person or a
department that looks into this function. If it is a person, this individual is
commonly referred to as the IT guy or gal; otherwise, the common reference
would be the IT department.
The Microsoft Network Monitor would be an excellent
application to use. It is backed by a company that is the epitome of technical
prowess and experience. There are countless network analysis software out in
the market, but not everyone has the same reputation as Bill Gates.
This will explain why the Microsoft Network Monitor is a
popular brand for conducting day-to-day network analysis. Code-named
Bloodhound, this type of packet analyzer can be trusted upon handily to find
out what is causing network traffic or a breakdown in an application. It will
be hard for an IT guy to do everything by himself or herself.
Sniffing packets for clues as to what ails a network at any
point in time can take so much of the IT desk's time and so automatically doing
it with the aid of a robust program is the only way to go. Especially for a
huge firm, manually conducting network analysis would be a tremendous waste of
time. This type of network monitoring is not even network forensics yet. It is simply covering the basics.
Now what if there is a crucial breach in the system,
something like a hacker gone rogue in a busy network that cannot afford to be
down. The plot thickens. This is where network forensics come into play. The support desk needs to be on top of the situation
and at break-neck speed, or else, vital
data may be lost at the blink of an eye. At this point, the techie is no longer
just monitoring the WAN's data passively, he or she is already doing what is commonly known as
intrusion-detection.
At this hard core level, the technical individual is said to
be performing network forensics. Most individuals would like to think that an
escalation from network monitoring to network forensics does not happen until
law enforcement gets involved. However, this can never be further from the
truth.
This is because network forensics has two components,
namely, tracking the usual and non-usual suspects; and, information-gathering
for legal evidence. Doing any or both is definitely an escalation already from
the usual analysis of data traffic. Come to think of it, an IT specialist must
take care of all this.
Therefore, hiring the perfect person for the job is
paramount. In this day and age, data
management is absolutely important to a company that intends to remain profitable
as well as reputable. In fact, human resource is beginning to lose out to data
as a corporation's most important asset. Thus, having an employee who handles
network monitoring like a pro is like hitting two birds with one stone.