Beyond basic protections 

Category	Mitigations
Segmentation	VLANs, Zero Trust, SDN
Monitoring	NetFlow, TLS inspection, SIEM
Endpoint Security	NAC, Host firewalls, EDR
Threat Hunting	Honeypots, EDR, deception tech
Physical Security	Disabled ports, locked racks, supply chain checks
Wireless	WPA3-Enterprise, rogue AP detection

Network segmentation & Zero Trust 

Micro-Segmentation 

Isolate critical systems (e.g., Whatever, HR) using VLANs or private VLANs (PVLANs).

Example (Cisco):

vlan 10
  name Whatever
private-vlan primary
private-vlan association 20

Use Zero Trust principles:

Never trust, always verify (even inside the LAN).
Enforce device authentication (802.1X, certificates).

Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

Centralized traffic control (e.g., OpenFlow) to detect lateral movement.

Tools: OpenDaylight, VMware NSX.

Advanced traffic monitoring 

NetFlow/sFlow analysis 

Detect anomalies (e.g., data exfiltration, lateral movement).

Tools:

Elasticsearch + Packetbeat (log analysis).
Darktrace (AI-based anomaly detection).

Encrypted traffic inspection 

Decrypt & inspect TLS (for malware C2, data leaks).

Tools: Palo Alto SSL Decryption, Squid + SSL bump.

Caution: Privacy/legal implications.

Endpoint & server hardening 

Network Access Control (NAC)

Allow only compliant devices (e.g., updated OS, antivirus).

Tools: Cisco ISE, Forescout, PacketFence.

802.1X/EAP-TLS for wired/wireless auth.

Host-Based firewalls 

Enforce least privilege (block unnecessary inbound/outbound).

Windows: Set-NetFirewallProfile -Enabled True

Linux: ufw default deny incoming

Disable legacy protocols 

Block SMBv1, LLMNR, NetBIOS (common attack vectors):

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName smb1protocol

Threat hunting & deception 

Honeypots 

Deploy fake servers to detect intruders.

Tools: CanaryTokens, T-Pot.

Example: Fake SMB share with logging.

Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR)

Use EDR to monitor processes, memory, network for malware.

Tools: CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Wazuh (open-source).

Physical & supply chain security 

Secure Network Hardware 

Disable unused switch ports:

interface range Gig1/0/1-24
  shutdown

Lock server racks (prevent tampering).

Firmware integrity checks 

Verify router/switch firmware (no backdoors):

sha256sum firmware.bin | grep EXPECTED_HASH

Logging & incident response 

Centralized SIEM 

Aggregate logs (firewall, DNS, endpoints).

Tools: Splunk, Graylog, ELK Stack.
Alert on: Brute-force, unusual logins.

Automated Response 

Block malicious IPs automatically:

# Fail2Ban rule for SSH
[sshd]
enabled = true
banaction = iptables-multiport

Wireless Security (If applicable)

WPA3-Enterprise 

Require certificates (not passwords).

Example (FreeRADIUS):

Auth-Type = EAP

Rogue AP detection 

Tools: Kismet, AirDefense.

And more 

Audit your network with nmap -sV 192.168.1.0/24.
Deploy a SIEM (start with Wazuh for free).
Test defenses with Caldera (MITRE ATT&CK simulations).