Application Detection
Start Monitoring Applications on the Network
The millions of data flows streaming across the network each month share one thing in common: they belong to an application.
Today’s applications come in many forms - from desktop programs to mobile-specific apps or cloud-based services and platforms, such as Dropbox, Netflix and Google Docs. But having the ability to identify specific applications running on the network in real-time is a major challenge due to the increasing use of encrypted communications.
Knowing nothing about the applications streaming across the local network and the Internet isn’t an option. While technologies like NetFlow are good at tracking total packets, NetFlow and others cannot inspect the entire packet (Deep Packet Inspection) to access metadata that will help you accurately classify an application. At the other extreme of application detection are technologies that introduce “man-in-the-middle” attacks within their own networks to identify applications. The downside of this approach are numerous: while compromising security and privacy.
- Increases complexity with deployments
- Compromises privacy
- Introduces additional attack vectors
- Decreases performance
Netify brings you the best of both worlds - accurate application detection without the invasive techniques employed by solutions that implement packet decryption/re-encryption.
How Does Netify Monitor Apps on The Network?
Identifying unencrypted traffic on your network is the easy part. Where things get interesting - and where many solutions fail - is with the use of encrypted protocols.
Netify’s deep packet inspection has an advantage over non-DPI technologies like NetFlow by having the ability to inspect and extract application detection metadata from the certificates used in all encrypted communications.
In the event certificates don’t provide adequate information to classify applications, Netify goes one step further by using DNS “hinting”, an innovative approach straight from Netify’s labs.
Being cloud-based, Netify has a tremendous advantage over competing solutions in its ability to apply machine learning and other techniques to continually update its application database. This results in almost 100 per cent application detection on any network over time. Updates from Netify’s labs or crowdsourcing efforts are pushed to Netify agents for continuous quality improvements.
To learn more about how application detection can benefit your business, click here.
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