4.2. Securing Enterprise Infrastructure

💡 First Principle: When infrastructure fails, everything built on it fails too — applications, services, and business operations. Enterprise infrastructure is the nervous system of the organization — it connects every system, carries every transaction, and enables every communication. Securing it requires placing the right devices in the right locations with the right configurations. A firewall in the wrong position, a misconfigured proxy, or an unencrypted management channel can each undermine the entire security architecture.

What happens when infrastructure security is an afterthought? Attackers exploit the gaps between systems — the unencrypted management VLAN, the monitoring tool with default credentials, the jump server with open SSH to the internet. The network itself becomes the attack vector, and every misconfigured device becomes a stepping stone.

Unlike application security (which focuses on code), infrastructure security focuses on the connections between systems. It's about controlling who can talk to what, through which path, and with what protections — like designing a building's hallways, doors, and access controls rather than the rooms themselves.