The objective of network security is to protect networks and their applications against attacks, ensuring information availability, confidentiality and integrity. When organizations design their network security architectures to meet this objective, they must consider a number of factors. Not all networks and their associated applications have the same risks of attacks or possible costs of repairing attack damages. Therefore, companies must perform cost-benefit analyses to evaluate the potential returns on investment for various network security technologies and components versus the opportunity costs of not implementing those items. In the process, enterprises should make sure to consider their network security implementations as competitive advantages that can attract.
