Fortifying Network Infrastructure for Cybersecurity

B.

To fortify the cybersecurity defenses of a company's network infrastructure, the solution should not affect the availability of the company's services to ensure that legitimate traffic is not dropped. This requirement rules out solutions that may trigger false positives, causing legitimate traffic to be dropped.

The following are the possible solutions to strengthen the company's cybersecurity defenses, along with an explanation of their impact on the availability of services:

A. Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) A NIDS is a security solution that monitors network traffic for signs of intrusion or suspicious activity. It analyzes the traffic data and raises alerts when it detects potential threats. A NIDS solution does not affect the availability of services as it only monitors traffic and does not block any packets.

B. Network Intrusion Prevention System (NIPS) A NIPS is a security solution that monitors network traffic for signs of intrusion or suspicious activity and can take actions to block or mitigate the threat. A NIPS solution can block legitimate traffic mistakenly, causing a service disruption. Therefore, a NIPS solution may not satisfy the requirement of not affecting service availability.

C. Web Application Firewall (WAF) A WAF is a security solution that protects web applications from various attacks by monitoring, filtering, and blocking HTTP traffic. It can prevent SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other web application vulnerabilities. A WAF solution does not affect the availability of services as it only monitors traffic and does not block any packets.

D. Reverse Proxy A reverse proxy is a server that sits between the client and the application servers and forwards client requests to the appropriate server. A reverse proxy can provide load balancing, caching, and other security functions. A reverse proxy solution does not affect the availability of services as it only forwards traffic to the application servers.

In conclusion, the solutions that would satisfy the requirement are NIDS and WAF. NIPS may cause service disruptions by blocking legitimate traffic, while reverse proxy provides other benefits but does not offer the required security solution.