5 steps to secure your network from within

Consider this: “Worldwide end-user spending on information security is projected to reach $213 billion in 2025, up from $193 billion in 2024, according to Gartner®, Inc.”*

And yet, 72% of organizations are reporting a rise in cyber risks.

This is more than irony. It’s a wake-up call.

The disconnect between cybersecurity investment and real-world confidence is now a boardroom issue — but our commitment to security isn’t broken. We’re defending today’s networks with yesterday’s playbooks, while our adversaries operate at tomorrow’s speed.

The solution isn’t implementing more tools. We just need to make our network infrastructure smarter.

• ALSO READ → Wired for intelligence: A CIO guide to enterprise networking and AI

A 5-step framework for securing your network

Modern enterprise environments are too complex for perimeter-based defenses alone. We need a converged strategy that embeds security into the fabric of the network itself.

The following framework offers practical, infrastructure-led actions aligned with the “identify,” “protect” and “detect” functions in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, which provides a comprehensive approach for organizations to manage cybersecurity risks.

1. Maximize embedded security controls

Make your network infrastructure the first line of defense. Use your existing networking equipment’s built-in security features to reduce the attack surface without adding complexity.

How to do this:

• Work with original equipment manufacturers who develop products with security in mind. These products must carry security certifications that meet your organization’s governance requirements.
• Design architectures that include the right security controls and provide separation of duty — for example, by isolating management and control planes.
• Configure systems according to your corporate security and governance requirements and disable unused services.
• Encrypt all transport layers (wired, wireless or remote) to secure data in transit.

2. Implement zero trust principles

The modern network is borderless. Adopt a “never trust, always verify” mindset and continuously check the identity, context and status of every device, user and application — no exceptions.

How to do this:

• Deny by default and apply least privilege access rules only to those users and devices conforming to security policy.
• Enforce continuous identity and context verification, and deny access if anything changes.
• Use segmentation techniques to block lateral movement and limit the scope of any intrusions.

3. Layer with cloud-delivered security

Your users and data, wherever they are, set the new perimeter. Secure service edge (SSE) technologies extend consistent security throughout your organization by applying cloud-delivered security controls consistently and uniformly.

How to do this:

• Implement SSE as a critical element of your wide area network (WAN), as these technologies are deeply integrated.
• Carefully assess whether a single-vendor technology or a best-of-breed, dual-vendor approach will more effectively meet your requirements.
• Improve security for cloud connectivity and multicloud networking, with SSE as a key element.
• Apply uniform policies across headquarters, branches, remote sites and remote users.

4. Improve observability

Your network “sees” all connections between users, applications, branches and clouds. This creates a large volume of raw data from your network and security stack, and observability helps you transform this data into operational insights that enable better decision-making on performance and security.

How to do this:

• Aggregate telemetry, logs and metrics across your network and security infrastructure.
• Apply analytics to gain performance, compliance and threat insights.
• Use managed detection and response (MDR) to strengthen your security posture.

5. Apply AIOps for efficient operations and proactive defense

AI delivers incredible value when it is applied to the data flowing from your network and security infrastructure. It can help you move from a manual to an AI-augmented or even self-driving infrastructure, and from reactive to predictive cyber resilience.

With AI-powered operations, you can spot anomalies and fix issues before they escalate, reducing the operational burden on your network and security teams.

How to do this:

• Automate detection, correlation and root-cause analysis.
• Implement automated remediation to reduce the mean time to repair.
• Use AIOps for efficiency — up to 30% faster resolutions and five times fewer tickets.

At a glance: Focus areas and outcomes

Step 1: Shrink the attack surface with embedded controls

Step 2: Restrict unauthorized access with zero trust security

Step 3: Extend secure access globally with SSE and software-defined WAN (SD-WAN)

Step 4: Enable intelligent operations through observability

Step 5: Boost automation and resilience with AIOps

While this five-step approach also plays an important role as part of broader cybersecurity initiatives that include governance, user education, and incident response and recovery, it rightly focuses attention on the network itself.

A secure infrastructure is built from within, and this is where NTT DATA delivers unmatched value. With more than 30 years of deep networking expertise and a global cybersecurity footprint, we help you operationalize network and cybersecurity convergence.

NTT DATA is investing more than $100 million a year in networking capabilities alone, from AI-powered platforms to skills development and managed services, and our deep networking and security skills deliver outcomes few others can match.

Secure by design — and ready for what’s next

You can’t control the threat landscape. But you can control how resilient, intelligent and secure your infrastructure is — starting with your network.

Secure-by-design infrastructure is the only sustainable way forward, and now is the time to embrace it. Not because it’s convenient, but because it’s essential. Let’s rebuild trust in security, one smart network at a time.

• ALSO READ → The invisible backbone: Why your workplace is only as good as its network

* Gartner press release, Gartner Forecasts Worldwide End-User Spending on Information Security to Total $213 Billion in 2025. 29 July 2025. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-29-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-end-user-spending-on-information-security-to-total-213-billion-us-dollars-in-2025

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.