At 2 a.m., a network administrator at an enterprise was awakened by an alert: the egress firewall had detected abnormal traffic—an internal IP address had transmitted a large amount of data to an overseas server within a short period. He immediately logged into the egress device and saw an IP address and a pile of traffic numbers. Then he faced a series of unanswerable questions: Which endpoint does this IP correspond to? Which user is operating it? Which application is initiating the connection? What content is being transmitted? Is it normal business or data leakage?
He opened the endpoint management system and found the department and user to which the endpoint belonged. He opened the DLP system and found no alerts for sensitive file outbound transfer. He opened the audit system and saw only scattered operation logs. He opened the network admission system and could not confirm whether the endpoint was currently compliant. Four systems, four fragments—no complete answer could be pieced together.
This scenario reveals the core dilemma of enterprise network management: network-layer traffic data and endpoint-layer behavior data have long remained fragmented. Egress devices can see traffic but do not know the “person” and “endpoint” behind it; the endpoint management system can see endpoints but does not know what network behavior they are generating.
The network management capabilities of the Ping64 integrated office security platform are built precisely around this dilemma. Seven capabilities—network traffic auditing, network protocol monitoring, network access control, unauthorized external connection detection, trusted network, HTTP protocol filtering, and network security zones—are not seven independent functional modules, but seven “nets” running on the same platform, interwoven with one another and jointly answering three questions: What happened, should it have happened, and how can it be proven?
I. Restoring Traffic to Its Subject
The first step of network management is to “see clearly.” Traditional network traffic statistics are usually based on egress devices and count “which IP occupies how much bandwidth.” In today’s era of endpoint mobility and dynamic IPs, this statistical method has lost its management value—one IP address may correspond to multiple endpoints, and one endpoint may switch among multiple IPs in different network environments.
Ping64’s network traffic auditing capability collects statistics on client network communication traffic within a specified time range, including statistics by address, protocol, and port category. The core difference of this capability is not “more statistical dimensions,” but that every traffic record is associated with a specific endpoint, user, and application.
When an administrator discovers abnormal traffic to an external address, he does not need to guess at an IP address on the egress device. Instead, he can directly trace back on the Ping64 platform: which endpoint, which user, and which process initiated the connection, where it connected, and how much data was transmitted. Traffic data is no longer an isolated number, but a behavioral clue that can be cross-analyzed with other security events.
Traffic auditing solves the problem of “what happened.” But knowing what happened is not enough; network management also needs to answer “whether it should have happened.”
II. From What Can Connect to What Should Connect
After traffic becomes visible, the next step is to judge the “reasonableness” of the traffic. Through two layers of capability—protocol monitoring and access control—Ping64 advances control from “passive recording” to “active constraint.”
Protocol monitoring focuses on the “content characteristics” of traffic. Ping64 supports monitoring and auditing of DNS and FTP protocols. DNS protocol monitoring can identify domain name resolution requests initiated by endpoints and discover whether endpoints are attempting to access malicious domains, unknown domains, or non-compliant domains; FTP protocol monitoring can identify file transfer behavior on endpoints and discover unauthorized file uploads or downloads. These protocol-level monitoring capabilities make up for the deficiency of traffic statistics that “only look at traffic size, not traffic content.”
Access control focuses on the “behavioral subject” of traffic. Ping64 restricts computers’ access to the intranet and Internet through parameters such as programs, network ports, IP addresses, communication directions, and protocol types, avoiding risks brought by arbitrary information interaction. The core design of this capability is “program-level” access control—not simply allowing or blocking by IP address, but precisely controlling “which application, through which port, in which direction, and using which protocol” initiates access.
Take a specific scenario: on an office endpoint, WeCom accessing the network is normal, but Xunlei or unauthorized remote control software on the same endpoint accessing the same network is clearly risky behavior. Traditional IP-based access control cannot distinguish between these two cases, while Ping64’s program-level access control can accurately identify and block network requests from unauthorized programs.
HTTP protocol filtering further refines the granularity of access control. Ping64 can block HTTP protocol file upload behavior on endpoints, preventing employees from uploading sensitive files to the outside through web forms, webmail, online documents, and other channels. This capability is linked with the data loss prevention module. When HTTP upload behavior triggers sensitive content identification, the system can automatically block and alert.
The combination of protocol monitoring and access control answers the question of “whether it should have happened.” But there is another type of behavior in enterprise networks that does not pass through normal network channels but bypasses all security devices—this is unauthorized external connection.
III. Closing Bypass Paths
The truly dangerous behavior in enterprise networks is often not “what was accessed,” but “what was bypassed.”
An office endpoint connects to the external network through a mobile hotspot and uploads internal files to a personal cloud drive; a production network endpoint establishes a second network card through a USB network adapter and forwards production data to the outside; an R&D endpoint connects to an external server through an unauthorized VPN tunnel and synchronizes code out. The common feature of these behaviors is that they bypass all network-layer security devices deployed by the enterprise—the firewall does not see the traffic, DLP does not inspect the content, and the audit system leaves no record.
Ping64’s unauthorized external connection detection capability continuously monitors network connection behavior on the endpoint side, identifying and blocking unauthorized network access methods. The system can detect whether an endpoint attempts to establish external connections through unauthorized wireless network cards, USB network adapters, mobile phone USB tethering, unapproved VPN clients, proxy servers or tunneling tools, dual-network-card bridging, and other methods. Once unauthorized external connection behavior is detected, the system executes response actions according to preset policies: logging and alerting, blocking the network connection, and isolating the endpoint to a remediation zone.
The trusted network capability strengthens the network boundary from another angle. Users can customize the trusted network environment. When an endpoint leaves the trusted network, the system supports corresponding policy linkage—network disconnection, alerting, and screen locking. This capability is particularly suitable for scenarios with strict requirements on the network environment: R&D endpoints can only be used in the company’s intranet environment, automatically disconnecting from the network and locking the screen after leaving the intranet; finance endpoints can only be used in designated office network areas, triggering alerts when connected to other networks.
The combination of unauthorized external connection and trusted network forms a dual protection of “what should not connect cannot connect, and what should not leave cannot leave.”
IV. Isolating Uncontrolled Devices
A special type of device often exists in enterprise networks: computers without security clients installed—possibly a visitor’s laptop, an outsourced worker’s device, or a temporarily connected test machine. These devices are not controlled by the enterprise endpoint management system, yet may access shared data on other endpoints through the intranet.
Ping64’s network security zone capability, once enabled, prevents computers without clients installed from accessing data on computers with clients installed. The implementation logic of this capability is: establishing a network access whitelist mechanism on the controlled endpoint side, so that only authenticated devices with clients installed can access shared resources on controlled endpoints. Even if uncontrolled devices connect to the same network, they cannot see or access data on controlled endpoints.
The value of this capability lies in extending “network admission” from the network device layer to the endpoint layer. Traditional network admission control (NAC) is usually based on switch ports or wireless access points, but cannot control “whether devices already connected to the network can access each other.” Ping64’s network security zones fill this gap, ensuring that data on controlled endpoints can only be accessed by controlled devices.
V. Integrated Synergy
Integrating seven network management capabilities on the same platform provides advantages not in “more complete functions,” but in the “chemical reactions” among the seven capabilities that are impossible in a multi-system architecture.
Same data foundation, from “puzzle pieces” to “panorama.” Network traffic data is stored in association with endpoint operation logs, file flow records, and outbound approval records on the same data foundation. When the security team investigates a data leak incident, it can simultaneously retrieve the endpoint’s network traffic records, access control logs, unauthorized external connection alerts, and file outbound records, forming a complete evidence chain. Administrators do not need to switch back and forth among egress devices, endpoint management systems, DLP systems, and audit systems; instead, they can see all network behavior of an endpoint on one interface.
Policy linkage, from “single-point response” to “combined actions.” When unauthorized external connection detection discovers a violation, the system can automatically link with the network access control module to block the connection, link with the endpoint security management module to lock the screen for evidence collection, and link with the audit center to record the handling result. The time window from “discovering risk” to “controlling risk” is compressed to near-synchronous levels, rather than requiring cross-system manual coordination as in a multi-system architecture.
Unified management, from “multiple systems” to “one platform.” Enterprises no longer need to deploy a separate system for network management, nor do they need to switch between multiple consoles. Capabilities such as network traffic auditing, protocol monitoring, access control, and unauthorized external connection detection run on the same platform as endpoint security management, data loss prevention, and behavior auditing. Administrators configure policies in one place, view data in one place, and handle incidents in one place.
Integrated perspective, extending from the “network layer” to the “endpoint layer.” Traditional network management focuses only on network-layer traffic and connections. Ping64 connects network management with endpoint security, data loss prevention, and identity management. Whether an endpoint’s network behavior is compliant depends not only on where it connects, but also on whether it has a security client installed, whether it is in a compliant state, and whether it is accessing sensitive data. This cross-layer perspective upgrades network management from “managing channels” to “managing behavior.”
VI. The Endpoint Is the Boundary
The paradigm of enterprise network management is shifting. Traditional “boundary protection” assumes that the network has a clear exit, all traffic passes through this exit, and security devices inspect at the exit. But today, with endpoint mobility, business cloudization, and the normalization of remote work, the network boundary has shifted from the data center exit to every endpoint.
What the Ping64 integrated office security platform represents is precisely such an “endpoint as boundary” network management logic: every endpoint is a manageable, auditable, and controllable network node; endpoint network behavior is tightly correlated with endpoint security status and data flow status; and network management policies operate collaboratively with other security policies on the same platform.
When network traffic auditing can trace back to specific endpoints and users, when network access control can be precise to the program level, when unauthorized external connections can be detected and blocked in real time, and when uncontrolled devices cannot access controlled data, enterprise network management is no longer a “checkpoint” on egress devices, but an “immune system” extending to every endpoint. Seven capabilities, one net—this may be the most pragmatic response to network management in the era of mobility and cloudization.
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