Securing port 80 is always a good idea, but for a long time, many IT departments may have only been securing this port and ignoring other less frequently used ports. A new report from Palo Alto Networks shows that this game plan now has serious holes, as most network traffic has shifted away from simple HTTP.

Network Security and Port 80

Palo Alto Networks, a network security company, recently released its Application Usage and Risk Report that looks into application use for 1,600 enterprises covering a stretch of time from April 2011 to November 2011. The report has some interesting findings when it comes to the prevalence of social networking and file sharing, but it also contains a warning for IT departments still phoning in their security procedures.

As noted in this eWeek article, applications that used only port 80 represented just 25 percent of overall network traffic; 35 percent of applications never used the port at all. Since port 80 is the default port for HTTP traffic, for years many time-strapped IT departments at small and midsize companies may have figured that focusing their efforts on port 80 was the right way to utilize limited resources. As these new findings show, this method is no longer sufficient, and IT departments still focusing on only port 80 may be missing most of their network traffic. The shift comes as a number of applications use port 443, or switch between a wide range of ports.

According to Palo Alto Network senior threat analyst Matt Keil in this Network Computing article, "The focus on Port 80 is absolutely a requirement, but too much of a focus on it is short-sighted."

The Changing Face of Network Traffic

Palo Alto Network's report also gives some good insight into how social media and file-sharing applications are changing the world of network security. When compared to a similar report from late 2010, social network sites and applications grew from taking up 5 percent of total bandwidth, to an astonishing 25 percent of total bandwidth. As a subset of that, Twitter growth alone was measured at 700 percent.

There was also significant growth when it came to file sharing networks, ranging from large operations like Box.net and Dropbox to smaller, more questionable offerings. The report found that 92 percent of enterprises had some sort of file-sharing network traffic, with an average of 13 different browser-based file-sharing variants being used at each organization.

The growth of network traffic in both of these areas prove that IT departments need to get a better handle on how their employees are interacting with the Internet. It's no longer possible to consider that employee won't use social networking or file-sharing sites, and in fact, these tools can be a great benefit for many companies, so IT pros need to understand how to secure this traffic and begin implementing solutions as soon as possible.

When combined with the information about the declining use of port 80, the rise of social networking and file sharing sites show that many IT departments, despite being on the cutting edge of technology within their organization, are in danger of falling behind the times. With the recent explosion of social networking, you can expect hackers to focus their efforts on these sites in hopes of getting their hands on your information. After the numerous security breaches of 2011, it is no longer sufficient to simply hope that hackers will pass you by. Attacks on midsize companies are on the rise, as their security is often significantly weaker than what you would find at enterprise-level businesses. Thankfully, the explosion of cloud computing allows companies of all sizes to take advantage of some of the best security solutions in the world.