Network Security Monitoring

I wanted to state some sort of preamble before I started posting information to this blog, so here it goes.

Network Security Monitoring (NSM) is not just about a methodology of recording different forms of network traffic for future examination, though that is an immediate goal of the recording system. The purpose of NSM is to provide analysts with the information they need to validate and escalate network activity that warrants human observation and action. As network activity varies from one monitoring domain to the next, NSM tools must be flexible in order to provide analysts with the means to detect, validate and assess the importance of all changes occurring within their monitoring domain.

I've provided a couple of definitions from Merriam-Websters's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition, copyright 1994 which you may find helpful towards the understanding of NSM as it relates to analysis. I'll add more words to this list.

Definitions:

analysis 1 : separation of a whole into its component parts 2 a : the identification or separation of ingredients of a substance b : statement of the constitutuents of a mixture 3 a : proof of a mathematical proposition by assuming the result and deducing a valid statement by a series of reversible steps, b (1) : a branch of mathematics concerned mainly with functions and limits (2): CALCULUS 1b 4 a : an examination of a complex, its elements, and their relations b: a statement of such an analysis 5 a : a method in philosophy of resolving complex expressions into simpler or more basic ones b: clarification of an expression by an elucidation of its use in discourse 6: the use of function words instead of inflectional forms as a characteristic device of a language 7 PSYCHOANALYSIS

ponder 1 : to weigh in the mind : appraise 2 : to think about : reflect on : to think of consider esp. quietly, soberly, and deeply

SYN: MEDITATE, MUSE, RUMINATE

ponder - ponder implies a careful weighing of a problem or often prolonged inconclusive thinking about a matter

meditate - implies a definite focusing of ones thoughts on something so as to understand it deeply

muse - suggests a more or less focused daydreaming as in rememberance

ruminate - implies going over the same matter in ones thoughts again and again but suggests little of either purposive thinking or rapt absorption

rapt - 1 : lifted up and carried away 2 : transported with emotion : enraptured 3 : wholly absorbed : engrossed