In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, safeguarding your enterprise is paramount. With cyber threats constantly evolving, having a robust security strategy is non-negotiable.

Securing Your Enterprise with ONES and SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud): This Comprehensive Guide Talks About

• Focus on Enterprise Product Security: Exploring essential aspects of securing enterprise products
• Fortifying ONES: Detailing how we’ve strengthened ONES for enterprise SONiC customers
• Pivotal Security Elements: Highlighting crucial security components like security scans, Certificate Authorities (CAs), user account management, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), LDAP, and Mutual TLS (Transport Layer Security)

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Fortifying Your Enterprise: 8 Essential Enterprise Security Practices

• Regular Security Scans: Perform frequent security scans to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses
• Robust Certificate Management: Establish a reliable CA infrastructure to ensure trust in digital certificates
• User Account Hygiene: Enforce strong password policies, implement MFA, and monitor user accounts for suspicious activity
• RBAC Implementation: Assign roles and access permissions based on job responsibilities, and regularly review and update them
• LDAP Integration: Centralize user and resource management with LDAP to improve security and network efficiency
• Implement Mutual TLS: Secure communication between systems and services with mutual TLS for enhanced data protection
• Streaming Telemetry and Continuous Monitoring: Start with collecting data from various sources such as logs, network traffic, and endpoint devices. Advanced analytics and machine learning are employed to identify anomalous behavior and potential security incidents‍
• Security Patches: Must-have tools in the ongoing battle against cyber threats. They are updates released by software vendors to address known vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their products

Aviz Networks commences its journey with customers right from the pre-deployment stages. Our dedicated customer success teams collaborate closely with enterprise security and audit teams to align their strategies and processes with security objectives. 

To learn more about our successful partnership with SONiC, we invite you to explore our case study: “Maximizing Success with SONiC.” Discover firsthand how Aviz Networks delivers reliable and secure solutions to empower your network infrastructure.

Let’s understand how we support multi-vendor SONiC deployments without compromising on the enterprise security requirements.

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‍Revolutionize Your Networking with ONES: The Open Networking Enterprise Suite

ONES is a network orchestration, visibility, and assurance solution for multi-vendor and multi-NOS operated network infrastructure. It provides a one-stop solution, right from delivering deep network visibility into your data center networks to extending 24×7 SONiC support. This solution also hosts a powerful analytics engine that assists users in identifying network issues and troubleshooting their networks, in case of common network anomalies and disruptions.

We focused on network security as the primary tenet while building ONES to cater to our enterprise SONiC customers and ensured the product adhered to all the best practices mentioned above. This blog highlights how the best practices are implemented in ONES.

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Streamlining Security Measures with Automated Scans

While customers perform security scans on software images, nonetheless, we have integrated and automated security scans within the CICD pipeline to ensure the integrity of software packages. 

Aviz runs security checks, installer scan, SAST/ DAST (Static/Dynamic Application Security Testing) using SynK, SonarQube, etc. to ensure the robustness of the ONES application and identify any vulnerabilities against malicious attacks and potential security risks. ‍

We adopt a CICD framework that integrates security into all phases of the software development lifecycle to reduce the risk of releasing code with security vulnerabilities.

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Ensuring Secure Communication with HTTPS CA Certs

ONES strongly enforces HTTPS over standard port 443 coupled with certificates signed by trusted Certificate Authority (CA). We firmly believe that HTTPS with CA certs is the sole method of safeguarding sensitive information and privacy while the data transfers between systems and services in an enterprise environment.

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Setting Up User Accounts and Role-Based Access Control

ONES is designed in such a way that every user has an independent ONES account and is never required to share credentials with others. However, we have also created a ‘super admin’ account that can be used for troubleshooting and recovery in case of any individual account issues, for example – a locked account or forgotten password, etc.

In addition to user accounts, ONES provides a fine-grained RBAC to restrict access to special features. It ensures that the individuals have the appropriate level of access based on their roles and responsibilities within the organization.

Ex: Critical Switch operations like reboot, ZTP can be allowed for Vendor staff.

• Super admin
• Enterprise Admin
• Enterprise Staff
• Vendor Staff

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Benefits of LDAP for Centralized User Authentication

LDAP simplifies user authentication and directory services in enterprise environments. It centralizes user account information, making it easier to manage access and permissions. Integrating LDAP into your security strategy enhances user management and access control while promoting scalability and efficiency. ONES application extends integrations with customer identity management solutions such as Active Directory and uses LDAP to communicate with Active Directory to authenticate users.

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What is Mutual TLS and How Does it Ensure Secure Communication?

ONES is designed to support Mutual TLS (Transport Layer Security), or mTLS, which is a security mechanism that ensures both parties in a communication exchange can trust each other’s identity. It’s particularly valuable for securing data transfer between systems and services in an enterprise environment. ONES utilizes gRPC infrastructure to communicate with switch agents. TLS is the primary security protocol used by gRPC to secure the communication between the client and the server. TLS provides authentication, confidentiality, and integrity of data. Authentication is achieved using digital certificates which verify the identity of the client and the server.

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Continuous Compliance Monitoring with ONES: Real-time Metrics and Alert Capabilities

ONES enables streaming telemetry and continuously collects metrics for software compliance such as software versions (NOS, Kernel, and ONIE software versions), EOL (End of Life) licenses, and security vulnerabilities. Also, ONES enables policies and alert capabilities to ensure that organizations remain compliant with regulatory requirements and security policies. It provides a real-time view of compliance status and helps in identifying and remedying compliance issues promptly.

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What Are the Benefits of Vulnerability Patching?

Security patches are essential tools in the ongoing battle against cyber threats. They are updates released by software vendors to address known vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their products. These patches are designed to bolster the security of your systems, close potential entry points for attackers, and mitigate the risk of exploitation. ONES is built using cloud-native and microservice design principles. Therefore, it allows container upgrades without impacting the data path or application downtime. It also allows updating security fixes or vulnerability patches without upgrading the whole system. Moreover, ONES continuously monitors for security vulnerabilities and leverages the CICD to timely update the patches to the system.

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How to Secure API Endpoints with ONES?

Securing an API with an enterprise product involves a combination of strategies, tools, and best practices. ONES implements user authentication using API tokens or JWT to ensure that only authorized users and applications can access the API. ONES is containerized and all the services are hosted behind an API gateway to rate limit API to endpoints.

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Conclusion: Comprehensive Approach to Enterprise Product Security

In an era of evolving cyber threats, fortifying your enterprise is not just a choice – it’s a necessity. By adopting a comprehensive approach to security, leveraging essential practices, and implementing cutting-edge technologies like ONES and SONiC, you can establish a robust defense against potential vulnerabilities.

Key Takeaways:

• Regular security scans, robust certificate management, user account management, RBAC implementation, LDAP integration, and Mutual TLS are fundamental security practices that form the bedrock of a secure enterprise environment.
• Implementing these practices ensures trust, integrity, and confidentiality in data transfer and access control.
• At Aviz Networks, we’re dedicated to support you from pre-deployment to post-deployment, ensuring alignment of strategies with your security goals.

Security Assurance:

Prioritizing security not only shields your organization but also instills trust in your customers and partners. They can rely on you to safeguard their sensitive information and maintain the integrity of your products and services. Our products adhere to best practices during the commissioning of sandbox and production deployments.

Interested in experiencing the power of ONES firsthand? We invite you to request a ONES demo. Our team is ready to connect with you and your team, providing insights and solutions tailored to your specific security requirements.

Stay Vigilant:

Remember, security is an ongoing process. Stay vigilant, regularly update your security measures, and adapt to emerging threats to ensure the ongoing safety of your enterprise.