Impact on switch performance SPAN is real because mirrored traffic consumes switch resources and packet copies often drop first during congestion. Many teams still rely on SPAN on Cisco Catalyst and similar switches for packet capture, troubleshooting, IDS feeds, and…
Configuring SPAN mirror ports switch lets teams copy selected traffic to a monitoring port so tools like Wireshark or tcpdump can inspect packets without affecting live production flows. In switched networks, traffic no longer reaches every port, so visibility is…
Virtual network taps (vTAPs) cloud mirror full traffic from cloud workloads to monitoring tools without disrupting production, giving visibility that logs alone cannot provide. We began using them after noticing how often east-west traffic slipped past log-based monitoring. Once we…
Copper network tap considerations start with one simple rule: plan carefully before touching a live link. Installing a tap takes timing and attention, because even a small physical mistake can cause bigger issues upstream. We’ve worked in environments where everything…
We’ve been watching the Iran-linked PLC attacks unfold, and here’s what stopped us cold: this isn’t a sophisticated espionage campaign. It’s a walkthrough. Federal agencies confirmed in early April that threat actors are probing internet-facing industrial controllers, and we found…
Iran-linked threat actors are actively targeting and disrupting U.S. critical infrastructure by exploiting exposed industrial controllers, and your best chance to stop them is by seeing them first. Federal agencies confirmed it in April 2026. Hackers affiliated with Iran’s IRGC…
Fiber optic network taps types are designed to copy optical signals so teams can monitor live traffic without disrupting production. They provide direct visibility into what’s actually moving across the network, which matters more as environments grow more complex. Teams…
Choosing between TAPs SPAN ports comes down to one thing: how much you trust your data. Both promise visibility, but they behave very differently when traffic spikes or something breaks. We have seen this during incident reviews, where missing packets…
SPAN ports copy traffic, but not all of it gets through. When traffic spikes, drops start. You see it most during incidents, when the capture does not match what users felt on the network. Still, SPAN stays popular because it…
Network tap deployment lets you see all your network traffic, in full, as it happens. It makes a copy of the data without slowing the network or getting in the way. A Network TAP works at the physical layer, so…