Virtualización de la seguridad en un entorno de redes de área local

Abstract

The virtualization of network functions clearly represents the future of telecommunications networks, providing researchers with the opportunity to explore new architectures and applications, as well as assess solutions and service agreements to achieve successful implementation of this technology. This project arose due to a common problem in hardware-based network architectures regarding security, flexibility, and scalability, as they are challenging to modify or update to meet the changing needs of an organization since they are designed to fulfill a specific set of requirements. The main goal of this research is to present a solution to address these types of issues in hardware-based network architectures. A software-based network security architecture was proposed for a local area network, and two network topologies were designed for evaluation. In the first topology, a Cisco ASA brand firewall was used as a security device, configured with the necessary parameters for the internal network environment. In the second topology, the hardware-based security device was replaced with PfSense, an open-source security solution. Both topologies were compared in terms of availability and response times. As a final result, security parameter values were obtained, allowing for a comparative analysis, as established in the objectives of this project. This led to the conclusion that the virtualization of network functions offers a more flexible and scalable alternative to hardware-based network architectures in a local area network environment. This can help address the challenges of adapting to changing organizational needs in the field of telecommunications.